Photo by Keith Cerny Hundreds of volunteers have contributed more than 2,000 man-hours since the Alamosa salmonella crisis began including this Sanford grandmother and two of her grandchildren. Juanita Phythian and granddaughters Elexia and Kaitlynn Wright of Alamosa were among those distributing Stage 2 yellow flyers Sunday.

All of Alamosa in ‘Yellow’

Stage 2



By REBECCA VAN DYKE

ALAMOSA — Residents of Alamosa were excited when a yellow slip of paper was found taped to their doors over the weekend. It is official; the entire city is in Stage 2 of the 3-stage flushing.

Stage 2 means bathing and hand washing as well as laundry. It does not mean citizens can drink the water or wash dishes yet, but every day the city gets closer to getting back to normal.

The custodial and maintenance staff at Alamosa schools spent the weekend preparing schools for the return of their students Monday morning. School attendance was back to normal at 97 to 98 percent of students returning.

Students can look forward to extra pizza days and lots of sandwiches until the city finishes flushing and can safely prepare food again.

CSAP testing will resume with an extra week added on to make up for lost time.

As of Monday, Alamosa Public Schools are not sure whether or not children will need to make up the missed days. The school district can apply for a time waiver with the Colorado Department of Education, but Henry Herrera, superintendent for APS, said the school district would have to demonstrate the schools went through a hardship, but he doesn’t believe it to be a hardship, only an inconvenience.

Graduation for the high school will not be moved back even if the schools decide to make up the extra time.

Herrera urged parents to stress the need for frequent hand washing in children. Health officials suggest coaching children on proper hand washing, routinely asking children if they have washed their hands, and schedule hand washing after recesses, after bathroom use, and before and after meals. Hands should be washed for 20 seconds timed by a clock.

Salmonella can be passed several ways, including through food and hands. If children demonstrate any of the symptoms associated with the bacteria, they should not return to school until they have been symptom free for 24 hours. The same applies for adults returning to work, especially those in the food service industry.

Water distribution centers will remain open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the old K-Mart building, Boyd Park, and the hospital. Residents are urged to utilize the recycling bins at K-Mart and the hospital for any unused plastic water containers.

The Salvation Army is still offering vouchers, distributed through La Gente, to citizens who can prove Alamosa citizenship with a current I.D. or utility bill. La Gente is located at 2261 Enterprise Drive. Vouchers will be distributed from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays. This will continue until April 10.

The city announced that progress in the flushing has moved quickly. Stage 1 flushing of the 49 miles of pipes in Alamosa was estimated to take 3 to 4 weeks, but took only 7. While there is no estimate yet when Alamosa will get their green notices, Mayor Farris Bervig reported the swift flushing to be a milestone in getting the city back to normal.

Water specialists are waiting for all water samples from various locations in the city to come back clean to know for sure the flushing has decontaminated the water system. Samples were still being collected yesterday.

The city will begin flushing the hydrants. Mayor Bervig said there is no reason to worry about the chlorine in the water coming out; it has been diluted.

The city still has no idea where the source of contamination was, but believe chlorinating the water source will shut down any possibility of recontamination. The investigation is ongoing to find a cause.

As of Sunday, 316 cases were reported; 85 confirmed, 12 resulting in hospitalization. Several of the Colorado National Guard’s men were sent home and Comfort Inn stopped offering showers.

Alamosa officials could not comment on whether or not residents and businesses would be compensated for the time they were using and paying for contaminated water.