Letter to the Editor – ” The water isn’t the only thing dirty in Hartman’s story”

To the Editor,

The water isn’t the only thing dirty in Hartman’s story.

While state and local politicians play a legal waiting game until the Secretary of State hearing this July 13th, residents in Hartman are paying the price with their health. Our town’s water system has been completely unchlorinated since early May with full acknowledgement by the state that they knew this would be so.

The state’s decision to watch the chlorine run out is the most damning proof that they engineered this public health hazard as a weapon of compliance. Rather than deploying a single technician to keep the system sanitized, they intentionally stood down, letting the water turn toxic to force our community into submission.  They had over two months to arrange a basic chemical delivery but deliberately chose to let the system go completely raw.

The state knows the physical asset is entirely beyond repair. No amount of heavy chemical shocking can bypass or overcome a continuous influx of animal feces, insects, and organic material entering through active roof holes and cracks.A survey done by the state itself detailed extensive corrosion, interior coating failure, and roof cracks in the water storage tank that created direct pathways for contamination. Because of those holes, the physical environment inside the tank is completely vulnerable to pests and elements, yet residents are being forced to navigate a system designed to protect the state rather than public health.

Recent resident testing revealed the presence of chlorophyll in our municipal water—a clear indicator of active organic growth inside a federally funded, compromised USDA infrastructure asset.
Yet, state agencies like the CDPHE and DOLA have essentially conditioned structural water relief on the official legal dissolution of our town under SB26-157.

By design, every institution involved is passing the buck to ensure they bear zero legal or financial liability for the compromised water infrastructure, effectively holding Hartman’s residents hostage. This political gridlock leaves residents stranded with a contaminated, unsafe utility grid.

The human cost of this bureaucratic standoff is real and dangerous.  I am currently just days post-op from major bilateral eye surgery. Being exposed to water with active organic growth, bacteria, or heavy chlorine is an immediate, severe medical risk. Using it for basic post-surgical hygiene puts me at immediate risk for permanent, sight-threatening infections. Furthermore, due to a severe back injury sustained during the January 13 altercation at the town annex—the very event that triggered this political collapse—I cannot physically transport standard five-gallon water jugs.  To survive, I am forced to manually haul individual single-serve bottles into my home just to wash my hands and stay hydrated.

This forced dissolution coming up July 13th, is nothing more than a legal eraser designed to bury institutional liability, wipe out the audit trails, cover ups, overreach, missing funds, and absolve government agencies of decades of criminal neglect.  By rushing residents toward a July deadline under Senate Bill 26-157, the state is not trying to save Hartman, its residents, or its water. It is trying to permanently delete the legal entity that holds the receipts of their misconduct.

As a Hartman resident I am over being treated as legal line-item rather than a human being.
Hartman needs emergency clean water infrastructure today, not more bureaucratic delays.

Shawna Casey – Hartman Resident