Castle Rock seeks volunteers for annual creek-bank cleanup event

Castle Rock will send volunteers into 10 trail segments along East Plum Creek and Sellars Gulch for its annual Spring Up the Creek cleanup, a hands-on push to strip winter debris from one of the town’s visible water corridors before summer traffic picks up.

The free cleanup is set for Saturday, May 2, from 9 to 11 a.m. and marks the 23rd year of the program. Douglas County’s event listing also sets aside May 16 as a backup date if weather or other conditions force a postponement. Residents must register online and complete a waiver in advance.

Castle Rock Water is organizing the effort with Castle Pines Metro District, the Chatfield Watershed Authority, Douglas County and the Plum Creek Water Reclamation Authority, a lineup that reflects how closely watershed protection, wastewater treatment and regional water planning are linked in the Plum Creek system. Town officials say the cleanup matters even more this year because dry, windy conditions have left a winter’s worth of litter and debris along the creek banks.

Volunteers will receive gloves, trash bags, hand sanitizer, snacks and water at the trailheads. The event is open to all ages and can count toward community service hours, making it an easy fit for families, students and civic groups looking for a morning assignment with direct local impact. Castle Rock also said participants will get pet-waste bags in a dog-shaped dispenser and a magnet reminding residents that only rain belongs in the storm drain.

The town is pitching the cleanup as more than a beautification effort. Castle Rock Water says keeping pollution out of Plum Creek helps protect local wildlife, lowers the need for more aggressive treatment at town facilities and supports broader planning for a renewable water supply. About one-third of the town’s water now comes from renewable sources, and Plum Creek can supply about 5 million gallons per day, enough for indoor use for all customers on a typical day.

Castle Rock’s long-term water plan calls for 75% renewable water by 2050 and 100% by 2065. The town says it began using reuse water in 2020, completed the Plum Creek Water Purification Facility in 2013, expanded it in 2017 and added advanced treatment in 2021. The Plum Creek Water Reclamation Authority, which serves Castle Rock, Castle Pines Metropolitan District and Castle Pines North Metropolitan District, operates a biological nutrient removal process with a permitted capacity of 6.44 million gallons per day, underscoring how the creek cleanup fits into a much larger regional system.