The number of Alamosa residents sickened by tainted water broke the 200 mark Sunday, as community officials and volunteers worked to distribute bottled water and organize cleansing efforts.
The crisis-management team has logged 209 cases of illness out of the 10,000 people potentially exposed to the tap water, thought to be contaminated with salmonella.
State health department spokesman Mark Salley says the number of cases was 216 on Sunday. He says nine people have required hospital treatment and one remains in the hospital.
Officials don’t know when to expect the number of new cases to fall off, said Jim Shires, spokesman for the Jefferson County incident-management team.
“Several factors go into that,” Shires said. “We can’t say yet.”
Plans to begin flushing the well system with a chlorine solution — a move that will make even boiled water unusable — start Tuesday.
It could be two weeks before Alamosa residents can drink from the tap again.
Officials also hope to have the exact contaminant identified by mid-week, Shires said. While salmonella is suspected, preliminary analysis has revealed only that there is a harmful organic compound in the water system.
Sunday marked the day that the Jefferson County response team took the reins from Alamosa officials at the control center, where about 40 people labored through the Easter holiday.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
