spills in 2004. In 2005, there were more than 300,000 gallons of nonpotable water and sewage spills, which resulted in a fine of $130,000 to Colorado Springs Utilities by the Colorado Department of Health. Another 44,000 gallon raw sewage spill into Shooks Run and Fountain Creek on January 5, 2006, producing elevated levels of E. coli in Fountain Creek, resulted in a $10,000 fine for the utility and a required evaluation for how the utility managed sewage blockages within its system. Changes required of the utility to improve the sewage system could cost up to $40 million by 2012. In total, the utility expects to spend $250 million by 2025 to improve its sewer system and prevent sewage spills into Fountain Creek. According to The Gazette in 2007, untreated sewage spills into the creek an average of 10 times every year. Most of the sewage spills occurred before 2006, but there were still spills and penalties through 2011. The sewage spills polluted the Creek, which was of particular concern to downstream users, like the City of Pueblo. Tests between 2007 and 2009 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found levels of the E. coli bacterium above the safe limit in Ruxton Creek, Fountain Creek near Green Mountain Falls, and Fountain Creek near 8th Street. The E. coli levels were particularly high in the summer. Using microbial source tracking (MST) and DNA tracking, birds were identified and validated via water quality testing as the source of summer increases in E. coli. Colorado Springs Utilities, after almost ten years, had its compliance order with the state's Water Quality Control Division closed in 2013. The utility spent more than $170 million on improvements to the sewage system and $450,000 in penalties regarding sewage spills into Fountain Creek and its tributaries. The changes to the wastewater collection system included creation of detention ponds to divert overflow for treatment, a rapid response trailer to manage overflow problems, of large-diameter pipes, creek crossing projects, and more than 1,200 manhole covers. In 2014, a $145 bonding plan that would have included a regional stormwater project was voted down. It would have created a partnership with El Paso County, Green Mountain Falls, Manitou Springs, and Fountain to implement flood control projects. Selenium concentration Fountain Creek was identified as "impaired" due to high levels of selenium, picked up from the soil by ground and surface water, and E. coli