Small Texas town rocked by water crisis after teen girl is hospitalized with chemical burns from showering

A 16-year-old girl is said to have suffered from severe chemical burns after taking showers at her home in a small Texas town where residents are in uproar over the water quality.

David and Misty Logan told Fox 4 News their teenage daughter first became concerned after showering at their house in Trinidad, Texas on May 28. When she then took two more showers to ease the pain, her skin only became even more irritated.

The worried parents then brought her to Children’s Health Dallas, where doctors determined she suffered from chemical burns from the water she was using in the shower.

‘Most likely chemical burns/severe dermatitis from water she was exposed to, and unknown to her of the treatment done to the water, she kept re-exposing herself, which triggered the reaction,’ a doctor’s note from the appointment read.

‘This is not a laughing matter,’ David, the girl’s father said, noting that the water in the city has long been discolored.

‘I do strongly believe that this, with my daughter, had something to do with the water.’ 

Her illness set off a chain reaction that included accusations of more people being hospitalized and a ‘citizen journalist’ being placed under arrest.

The Logan family is now considering lodging a lawsuit against the city, which was in the process of changing a disinfectant in the water system at the time the teenager suffered the reaction. 

It remains under investigation whether Trinidad’s recent water treatment led to the Logans’ daughter’s rash. 

But an attorney for the family provided Fox 4 with a preliminary water test strip that showed there were ‘dangerous’ levels of free chlorine in the Logan family’s water.

The girl’s mother, Misty, then shared her frustrations on Wednesday, saying she was left ‘so angry at the city of Trinidad.’

‘They had put chemicals in our water,’ she posted on Facebook. ‘I was never notified of that being done.

‘The city needs to get their s*** together and now,’ Misty then argued. ‘We don’t need anyone else getting sick, let alone burned from chemicals that are being put in our water.’ 

Residents in the city of less than 1,000 people have questioned their water quality since at least April, when independent journalist Jennifer Combs took to her Facebook page claiming residents had been hospitalized due to bacteria in the water.

She then encouraged residents in the town to let her know if their water was ‘discolored,’ had a ‘strong odor’ or if they ‘experienced related health issues.’

The claims that more people were hospitalized from drinking the water could not be verified.

Still, Combs’ post set off a firestorm in the city, with Trinidad Police Chief Charles Gregory arresting her last month for felony false alarm.

He called the case ‘cut and dry’ in a post on social media and said Combs’ claims ‘are simply false and have only caused unnecessary fear and confusion in our community.’

But a Henderson County grand jury ultimately declined to indict Combs, who has now filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Trinidad and Gregory, in which she alleges she was arrested in ‘an act of deliberate political retaliation.’

‘Mrs Combs did not fabricate an emergency. She did not summon emergency responders. She did not trigger evacuations,’ the lawsuit claims, according to the San Antonio Express-News. 

‘She reported – accurately and in good faith – what community members had told her about the safety of their water, performing the most basic and constitutionally valued function as a journalist.’

Her lawyers also note that the city issued a boil water advisory roughly two weeks after Combs’ post, which they said vindicates her claims about the water being filthy.

Gregory, though, has maintained he did nothing wrong in taking Combs into custody.

He argued that the boil water advisory was just put in place as a precautionary measure due to ‘low chlorine residual levels’ in parts of the water system, and at a May 28 city council meeting, Gregory said he had ‘nothing to hide’ in relation to Combs and another independent journalists’ arrest. 

The other arrest occurred when citizen journalist Winston Noles was protesting Combs’ arrest outside of Trinidad City Hall with a sign containing expletives targeting ‘bad cops,’ Fox 4 reports.

Noles was then taken into custody and charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct for the sign, but Trinidad Municipal Judge Shellena Bivens dismissed the case.

She explained in an interview with Fox 4 there was no basis for the charge, saying she saw no evidence the city’s water clerk, Colby Reyes, was offended by Noles’ actions, as prosecutors had claimed.

‘You know he was peacefully protesting,’ Bivens said. ‘He didn’t break the law.’

But the judge and Reyes were later fired from their city positions.

Reyes now claims in a lawsuit she was terminated from her position in the city because she ‘refused to lie’ on behalf of Gregory and City Administrator Cynthia Dosier.

She alleges that Gregory publicly fabricated a story that she was frightened by Noles in order to arrest him, but she put in writing that she was ‘never offended’ by the protester. 

Bivens also said she, too, is considering taking legal action against the city as her attorney claims her termination was unjust.

‘I’m a good judge,’ she told Fox 4. ‘I’m a damn good judge.’ 

In the meantime, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is conducting an investigation into the city’s water and a law firm representing Reyes is working with Consumer Wellness Center Labs to organize free independent water testing for people on the city’s water supply.

City officials were also scheduled to hold a water workshop on Thursday to receive a report from Aqua Services, the company servicing the city’s water, but Misty Logan claimed on social media that nobody showed up.

The Daily Mail has reached out to city officials and Aqua Services for comment.