‘Not ignoring

anything’



By RUTH HEIDE

ALAMOSA — Alamosa Public Works Director Don Koskelin has responded to a recently released state report on Alamosa’s 2008 salmonella crisis.

“There’s no big surprises,” he said.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment report concluded that animal waste was probably the culprit for the water contamination that resulted in hundreds of cases of salmonella illness and one death.

Koskelin said the animal waste could have been something like a bird. He said the state’s report does not say it could specifically point to the cause but could make an educated guess based on the preponderance of the evidence.

The state report pointed to “several holes and cracks” in the Weber Reservoir, a concrete in-ground water storage tank, as leading to the contamination. “A water sample collected during the outbreak indicated the water in the tank contained bacteria,” the report stated.

Koskelin added that the Weber Reservoir was not in the best shape at the time of the salmonella crisis but was already slated to be out of service. Koskelin said the Weber Reservoir was constructed in 1979 and the roof was replaced in the 1980’s.

He said all the indications the city had were that the reservoir was not in great condition but not in terrible condition and within a matter of months was to be taken off line. (It is currently only used for irrigation purposes, not as part of the city’s potable water supply.)

Before the 2008 water crisis, the Weber Reservoir was not the center of attention, Koskelin said.

“We were deeply involved in constructing the water treatment plant. We started designing the plant in 2004 ... That was taking up much of our attention.”

Referring to the state report’s mention of a 1974 waiver of treatment for Alamosa’s water, Koskelin said the city had been operating under the same waiver since the 1970’s. With Environmental Protection Agency mandates for lower arsenic levels in the municipal supply, the city had begun construction of a water treatment facility at the time of the salmonella outbreak. Chlorination was scheduled to be part of that treatment. The salmonella crisis moved up in time and amount the city’s chlorination plans.

“If the water treatment plant had been in eight months earlier than it was, and it was under construction, none of this could have happened,” Koskelin said.

The state referred to a 1997 inspection of the Weber Reservoir that “noted cracking and problems with the corners of the tank, and recommended routine inspections for the future.”

Koskelin shared a copy of Liquid Engineering Corporation’s 1997 report with the Alamosa city council. The inspection listed the reservoir as clean, the roof in good condition and the walls showing “minor spalling” (chipping, flaking) and bowing outward. Koskelin said the bow occurred when the concrete was initially poured.

The report noted that the corners of the wall surface were in poor condition with cracking, spalling and exposed aggregate but were still satisfactory.

“That’s exterior damage,” Koskelin said.

The report also marked the concrete slab/ring as satisfactory but also showing cracking, spalling and erosion or exposed aggregate. The 1997 report also noted “minor corrosion on roof support structures.”

The report stated sand had built up on the west side from the inlet, and sediment was observed on the floor, but no leaking was observed in any part of the reservoir at that time.

The 1997 report recommended inspection in 3-5 years.

“They didn’t indicate a reservoir that’s falling apart,” Koskelin told the city council. “To say we knew there was something significantly wrong with this structure 11 years ago is not accurate.”

He added, “We were fixing it. It’s not like we were ignoring anything.”