Important Information About Your Drinking Water

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER
Recent Tests Showed Coliform Bacteria in the City of Grangeville Water

Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard. Although this incident was not an emergency, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened and what we did to correct this situation.

We routinely monitor for drinking water contaminants. We took eight (8) samples to test for the presence of coliform bacteria during September. Two (2) of our samples showed the presence of total coliform bacteria. The standard is that no more than 1 sample per month/5 percent of samples may do so.

What should I do?

You do not need to boil your water. People with severely compromised immune systems, families with infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk and may want to contact their health care provider for additional guidance.

What does this mean?

This is not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified immediately. Coliform bacteria are generally not harmful themselves. Coliforms are bacteria which are naturally present in the environment and are used as an indicator that other; potentially-harmful, bacteria may be present. Coliforms were found in more samples than allowed and this was a warning of potential problems.

Usually, coliforms are a sign that there could be a problem with the system’s treatment or distribution system (pipes). Whenever we detect coliform bacteria in any sample, we do follow-up testing to see if other bacteria of greater concern, such as fecal coliform or E. coli, are present. We did not find any of these bacteria in our subsequent testing, and further testing shows that this problem has been resolved.

What happened? What was done?

On September 29, 2005 the City was notified that a water sample taken at 318 So. “B” St. tested positive for coliform bacteria. City personnel began flushing the water mains in this area the afternoon of the 29th and the morning of the 30th, four more samples were taken on the 30th and delivered to the lab. Monday October 3, 2005 the City was notified that a sample taken at 614 W. South 1st St. tested positive for coliform bacteria, the City again began flushing water mains in this area. Four samples were taken on October 3rd and four additional samples were taken on October 11, 2005. All eight of the October samples tested absent for coliform bacteria, the water department will continue to sample the system, however the flushing and subsequent sampling indicates that the coliform bacteria problem has been resolved.

While we are not positive, we believe the coliform bacteria problem occurred due to a combination of a large water leak on Lake St. and heavy water system flushing in conjunction with our water project currently under construction.

For more information, please contact Ken Gortsema at 983-1380 or at City Hall, 225 W. North St.

Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

This notice is being sent to you by the City of Grangeville Water Dept.
State Water System ID#: 2250023. Date distributed: October 19, 2005