Walsenburg crews have plugged the city’s leaking water system, returning pressure to residents after nearly a week of little or no water, city officials said Thursday.
The Huerfano County city of about 3,000 people lost water pressure early Friday morning, causing water loss in homes and businesses, a disaster declaration, school closures and a boil water advisory. The city estimated more than 9 million gallons of water, about a one-month supply, gushed out of the water system between Friday and Thursday and flowed back into the city’s water source, the Cucharas River.
The main leak, located near East Seventh Street and South Madison Avenue, was repaired, said John Galusha, assistant city administrator, but not everything is back to normal yet.
“We don’t have any pressure issues, but yes, we are under a boil advisory,” Galusha said. He expected the boil advisory to be lifted as soon as Saturday.
Walsenburg reported a water line break around 2 a.m. March 13. Businesses and homes suddenly had no water running through their faucets — not for the first time in a community with a water system that is between 50 and 100 years old. But this time was different: Instead of sections of the community being cut off, the whole city was impacted, residents said.
City officials issued a disaster declaration to bring in additional resources. Huerfano County staff, state agencies, police and fire departments, the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross stepped in to help. City crews, assisted by Denver Water, went out in search of the problem and found multiple, small leaks in the system.
Denver Water crews check water pressure in Walsenburg, Colorado, after a significant water leak cut off water services to the city for nearly a week in March 2026. (Lee Cesario, World Journal Newspaper, Contributed)By Monday, the crews found the main issue: a 12-inch iron pipe leaking water into a field in the southeastern part of town about 50 to 75 feet from the Cucharas River, Galusha said. They removed about 30 feet of the water line, parts of which were encased in concrete, and replaced it with PVC pipe. Water pressure rose, the problem seemed to be fixed — and then pressure dropped again.
Crews again searched for the problem area and found that a valve had been left open on an abandoned stretch of pipe during the initial search for the leak, Galusha said.
“So we were pushing water through an abandoned line that had no end,” he said. “When we turned that valve back off, we were able to pressurize the system.”
The Walsenburg City Council planned to decide whether to extend the disaster declaration during a meeting Thursday night. Galusha said he strongly recommended the council have this special meeting because he did not see any way around extending the disaster declaration.
The boil water advisory was set to continue as the city flushed its system with elevated levels of chlorine.
Low water pressure could allow disease-causing organisms, like bacteria, viruses and parasites, to enter the water system, according to the Las Animas-Huerfano Counties District Health Department’s notice.
The health department warned residents to hold off on doing laundry while the chlorine flushed through the system. Laundry is safe to do during the boil advisory, but the chlorine could fade colored clothing, or discolor or stain lighter items, the department said.
“These precautions are to protect clothing, not due to safety concerns,” the department said in a Facebook post Thursday.
Once the pipes have been disinfected, the water system will be flushed and chlorine levels will return to normal, the public health release said.
Residents using tap water for home kidney dialysis should consult their health care provider to see if their care needs to be adjusted. Those with aquariums and aquatic pets might need to use filtration or chlorine removal products to avoid harm to fish and amphibians.
The water is safe for showers, washing machines and toilets, Galusha said.
“The only reason that we don’t encourage drinking water is the state health department’s requirements,” he said. “But I will tell you this: I have not stopped drinking it.”
He isn’t worried about it — because “I think the state health department’s a little bit too far left,” he said — but he wouldn’t advise anyone else to do the same.
A case of bad timing
For some local business owners, the water system’s crash happened at exactly the wrong time.
Spring break and St. Patrick’s Day often help boost business after the slow winter season, said Aubrey Lykins, owner of Crafty Canary Brewery. The brewery lost three days of business and about $4,500, she said.
At first, information about the leak was a little slow to get out, which led to some misinformation. But city and county workers were quick to jump in, as were volunteers from organizations like the American Red Cross, who brought in drinkable water and helped with access to showers.
“It did seem like folks came together once they realized how dire it was,” Lykins said.
Her main questions: Is there any financial aid to help businesses recover, and is this going to happen again?
“The water infrastructure has historically been an issue here,” she said. “Citizens have been desperately trying to see why things aren’t getting fixed and where their money’s going.”
Helena Cappon, a Walsenburg resident and co-owner of Gub Gub’s, a pizza and ice cream shop, said she was in the restaurant at 5 a.m March 13 ready to start making bagels. Then, she realized they didn’t have any water. By 9 a.m., she learned the entire town was in the same situation.
The shop, she said, “is our everything.”
“It’s been scary for everybody especially because every day, we had no idea how long it was going to take,” Cappon said. “(Crews) were doing everything they could, but it was still a super long time before we really knew we were going to be back in business, and that was terrifying.”
The restaurant ended up closing for five days — the longest closure ever for the mom-and-pop shop (even when she got married). They were able to reopen Wednesday, she said.
It was incredible to see the community jump into action, Cappon added.
Gub Gub’s loaned its portable outdoor heaters to the volunteers during cold weather, and one of the county commissioners delivered them to the volunteer site. The mayor, Gary Vezzani, used his business’s water truck to help distribute nonpotable water. Neighbors were knocking on each other’s doors to make sure everyone had enough to drink and flush toilets.
People were ready to jump in and start looking for grants or loans to help with the water problems and going to city council meetings to learn more about the city’s infrastructure challenges, Cappon said.
“It’s amazing to see people really try to use this as a catalyst for the change that they’d like to see in this area,” she said.
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