Wetlands pond at John Denver Sanctuary patched

A city of Aspen crew Tuesday finished patching one of the ponds at the John Denver Sanctuary wetlands north of Rio Grande Park, a city parks official said.

The crew had been working on the pond closest to the Roaring Fork River for about a week after parks employees noticed this summer that flows at that point weren’t at normal levels, said Matt Kuhn, operations manager for the city’s Parks Department.

Officials identified the leak, then had the city crew drain that pond and another on the other side of the bridge with the island in the middle, he said. After that, workers used a small backhoe to dig up the pond with the leak, replace the liner and reseal it with concrete, Kuhn said.

The cost of the project was unclear Tuesday, though Kuhn said it included a pallet of concrete, new liner and work done by city employees.

The man-made wetlands were built between 2011 and 2015 at a cost of $2.5 million and are designed as a giant filter for city storm water. The different sections of the wetlands receive run off and snow melt from Aspen’s downtown core and acts as a natural scrubber before the water flows into the Roaring Fork River.