Parasites Found in Alamosa Water

Residents of Alamosa, Colorado may have to wait until this weekend until a Boil Water Advisory is lifted and they can finally begin to use tap water normally, but they now know what caused a contamination of the public supply.

Nearly 400 cases of salmonella poisoning were confirmed as of Tuesday, KKTV reports, including 16 people who required hospitalization. For nearly two weeks, residents of the small, Western city have been getting all water from bottles and severely limiting bathing and cleaning habits while restaurants and public schools were closed after a contamination was linked to the public water supply.

Tests taken before public officials shocked the water supply by dumping a solution containing three times as much chlorine as pool water found the presence of Giardia and Cryptosporidium, known parasites which cause diarrhea illness.

A further test on the treated water now will look for these parasites and results on it are expected by the weekend.