Alamosa, Colorado: Water, Water Everywhere But Not a Drop Worth Drinking.

Did you know that this year marks the 100th year of America’s reliance on chlorine to disinfect drinking water?

Jersey City, NJ was the first US city to routinely chlorinate it’s municipal drinking water, followed by Chicago’s union stockyards and many, many more cities around the country. Today, pretty much all U.S. public water systems rely on chlorine in some form for safe drinking water

As a result, waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid are virtually eliminated.

But as this guest post by the Chairman of Water Quality & Health Council highlights, there are always cracks in the system…

The Waterborne Outbreak in Alamosa, Colorado
by Chris Wiant, M.P.H, Ph.D.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the first use of chlorination to help ensure safe drinking water supplies.  The most important stories related to this milestone are those that did not have to be written – the outbreaks of waterborne disease that did not occur and the health and economic costs that have been avoided.  Instead we are able to talk about increased life expectancy and improved quality of life achieved by providing clean drinking water.  However, the people of Alamosa, Colorado, were recently reminded that without disinfection, public drinking water supplies are still vulnerable to contamination, just as they were 100 years ago and continued vigilance is necessary to ensure protection. 

In early March 2008, the first cases of a Salmonella outbreak  were reported in Alamosa, a town of 10,000.  Through epidemiologic investigation, the water supply was soon suspected and later confirmed as the source of the outbreak. This was stunning news to many who believed that Alamosa’s water was safe from contamination.

The water supply for Alamosa is drawn from a deep well and maintained in a closed system.  This enabled Alamosa to receive a waiver from rules that would otherwise require disinfection of its drinking water supply.  So, although it was not treated with chlorine or other disinfectant, the water supply was in compliance with applicable drinking water regulations at the time of the outbreak.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) concluded that contamination likely took place in an underground storage facility that had cracks and was visibly leaking.  Despite the high quality of water coming from the ground, the storage/distribution system presented a risk that could have been eliminated through the use of disinfection, highlighting the need for multiple protective barriers to address potential contamination.  The storage facility was repaired and the entire distribution system was subsequently flushed with superchlorinated water.  The water supply is now chlorinated and monitoring was increased to ensure clean water is provided to customers.

The outbreak resulted in over 400 reported cases of illness.  It is speculated that many more people were ill but didn’t seek treatment or were unable to get treatment as the medical care system became overwhelmed.  The economic cost of the outbreak, including the associated response costs and loss of tourism, has not been calculated.

Although CDPHE and other responders were praised for their prompt ction, which most likely limited the extent of the outbreak, it is now clear that the vulnerable water system could have been protected through the use of a proven and cost effective disinfection method.  100 years after chlorine was first used to help provide safe drinking water, the Alamosa outbreak serves as an important reminder of the value of disinfection in protecting public health. 

(Chris Wiant is President and CEO of Caring for Colorado Foundation in Denver Colorado and chairman of the Water Quality & Health Council.)