Adams State College pools resources during water crisis (04-02-08)
Article by Marni Zabel, class of 2008
Do not drink the water, do not do dishes, do not do laundry and do not shower - a salmonella contamination in the Alamosa city water supply did not wash out the Adams State College campus community. The hazard was cleanly handled by the Adams State Incident Management Team. They combined their talents and efforts during the salmonella outbreak, and through the stages of clearing the water supply, keeping the campus community safe and well-informed.
Once salmonella was discovered in the city water Alamosa began a three stage process to clean out the contaminant. Before purification could begin, citizens were instructed to use bottled or boiled water for drinking, tooth brushing and cooking.
Stage One of the decontamination consisted of a high concentration of chlorine flushed through the city water system. At that time, the citizens were instructed to discontinue all water usage, except for flushing toilets.
Stage Two began within a week after Stage One - water could be used for quick showers, minimal hand-washing, and laundry, but was still not safe for consumption, tooth brushing, dish washing, or prolonged exposure.
Salmonella Discovered
At 2:30 p.m., March 19, the City of Alamosa announced salmonella contamination in the city water - and the Adams State Incident Management Team went into action. The first concern was for student safety. An e2campus message and a Portal announcement were sent to students, faculty, and staff instructing them to stop drinking city water.
The team includes Bruce DelTondo, director of auxiliary services; Gregg Elliott, director of the counseling and career center; Amanda Jojola, nursing education specialist; Gary Jones, director of facilities services; Ken Marquez, dean of student affairs; Dr. Teri McCartney, associate provost of graduate studies; Tracy Rogers, director of human resources; Mark Schoenecker, director of communications; Dr. Joel Shults, director of public safety; Dr. David Svaldi, Adams State president; and Julie Waechter, assistant to the president for communications.
The team worked with Sodexho, the campus food service, to ensure the cafeteria's food preparation procedures were altered to continue serving students safely. The team met daily, for hours, discussing how to supply safe drinking water, whether or not to cancel classes, how to distribute information, and coordinating with city officials and the campus community to keep a 90-acre campus functioning without city water.
At an all-campus meeting, Wednesday, March 26, President Svaldi said: "Everyone has worked extra hard to keep our campus operational. Thank you to all Adams State employees who have kept business functions running. The food service workers are heroes. They were immediately judged safe by the Health Department and they were able to continue providing food service to our students. A community member mentioned to me they thought the cafeteria was the safest place to eat in town."
Team Effort
Individuals and departments across campus were instrumental throughout the water incident. Facilities Services posted flyers and helped hand out water. Rodney Martinez, the custodian supervisor, said: "We have been transporting the water bladder and installing sanitizer dispensers in all restrooms, handing out water and hand sanitizers to campus buildings and posting red tags where they need to be. We want to do our part and help everyone as best we can."
Jojola volunteered to answer health-related questions throughout the incident. She worked closely with the hospital to provide additional information to the college community about salmonella and coordinated the purchase of disposable shower caps and bath-in-a-bags for students. Forty-two cases of Readi Baths, enough for roughly five days, were purchased and distributed to students.
The housing staff feverishly worked to hand out water to students on campus and supplied containers for filling at the three water stations in Alamosa. Currently, there is a 500-gallon tank between the Student Union Building and the Housing Office for campus use. "The 'bladder' can be refilled as many as three-to-four times a day to accommodate students," said DelTondo.
Later on Wednesday, when Stage 1 of "Operation Sally" got underway on campus, showering and washing hands with city water was restricted. The Comfort Inn, a locally owned hotel with an artesian well allowed the community to shower in their facility, at no charge. Housing provided a shuttle for students from the dorms to the Comfort Inn three times daily.
Community Assistance
"The Comfort Inn has been absolutely outstanding and should be recognized," DelTondo said. "They have opened their facilities at no cost. In the spirit of community, the housing office will be providing the hotel staff with a gratuity for every student who took a shower."
Erin Baldwin, class of 2011, an early childhood education major, is a first-year RA. "I am driving shuttles to the hotel, manning the RA desks packed with towers of bottled water, handing out gallons of water and hand sanitizer and whatever else housing needs me to do."
"The RA's have been amazing," DelTondo said. "They have gone above and beyond by posting flyers on every residents' door - each time there is a new flyer - distributing bath-in-a-bags, hand sanitizers, water bottles, jugs and bottled water to three floors of residents without elevator assistance."
Stephanie Cannon, class of 2009, an elementary education major, said professors who live outside the city limits offered to let students shower in their homes.
Classes were canceled March 26 through March 28, during the severe water restrictions when the city was "flushing" the water. Provost Michael Mumper met with department chairs on Monday to discuss how professors will make up lost "seat time."
At the campus meeting on March 26, Dr. Carol Guerrero-Murphy, chair of the English, Theatre, Communications and Languages Department, suggested students "communicate with professors." She said her department will work to accommodate students.
Above and beyond
Shults, director of public safety, attended the Emergency Operation Center meetings organized by the City of Alamosa. "Shults has been the primary point of contact at the EOC and is attending all EOC meetings whether they are at 6:30 a.m. or 7 p.m.," Svaldi said. "He has kept our campus the most up-to-date."
Waechter and Dr. Mark Finney, assistant professor of mass communications, wrote press releases and posted on the Web Portal the latest information during each stage of the water crisis.
"I would like to commend Adams State for coming together to deal with the water situation," said Barbara Griego-Jones, administrative assistant for the human performance and physical education department. "They have been both proactive and reactive and I am proud of our campus. I feel more comfortable on campus than at home."
To find the most current, up-to-date information about what the college is doing in regards to the water situation visit the Web at adams.edu/water.
