ALAMOSA, Colo.—Southern Colorado residents who say they were sickened by a salmonella outbreak blamed on Alamosa’s water supply filed a lawsuit against the city Monday.
The lawsuit filed in Alamosa District Court Monday alleges the city failed to monitor and maintain a sanitary water system. The outbreak in March 2008 sickened as many as 1,300 people and killed one person.
State health officials said in a November report that the likely source of the outbreak was animal waste that got into the one of the city’s underground reservoirs. The lawsuit alleges that the city’s three water storage tanks had not been inspected in more than 10 years or longer and that parts of the public water system were in “significant disrepair.”
The lawsuit claims the city’s primary water well had cracks and holes in corners of the concrete structure and that more than a foot of sediment was found at the bottom of the tank. The lawsuit says the two other water storage facilities also had sediment and that one was contaminated with animal feces.
City officials said last year that a new water treatment plant was under construction at the time of the outbreak. Alamosa had a state waiver exempting it from chlorinating its water at the time of the outbreak, but the state revoked that waiver and at least 70 others afterward.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of more than 29 plaintiffs. Among other things, it seeks compensation for medical expenses, loss of wages, and emotional distress suffered as a result of contracting salmonella.
Alamosa City Attorney Erich Schwiesow said the city’s insurance carrier has been talking to the attorneys who filed the lawsuit for months about their intentions. But he said he had yet to read what was filed.
