A boil water advisory for drinking water, which was issued on Friday, Dec. 23 for Lindon City inhabitants, is still in effect after a water sample tested positive for Escherichia coli bacteria.
E. Coli Invades Lindon City's Water Supply
The city administrator issued a boil order for drinking water as a precautionary measure on Friday afternoon after detecting E. coli contamination in the city's water supply. All the residential neighborhoods and industries in Lindon, Utah were instructed to use either bottled water or tap water boiled for a minimum of one minute and cooled before using for cooking and drinking purposes.
"Please prepare [your] household and get water bottles or other items from stores while they are still open today - and don't forget the milk," reads the Dec. 24 press release from the Lindon City Administrator. "Results from recently taken water samples may not be clear until Sunday afternoon."
City Collaborating With Health Departments To Purify Water Supply
Since Friday, Lindon City has been working with the Utah County Health Department and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to disinfect the city's water supply. After chlorination, sampling and flushing were said to be repeated every 12 hours.
According to the advisory boil order, bacterial contamination can occur when a large amount of run-off goes into the supply of drinking water, when distribution pipes break, or when something goes wrong in the water treatment process. The city authorities are keenly looking into the potential source of contamination.
E. coli contamination is caused when water comes into contact with human or animal waste. When food or water food contaminated with fecal material is ingested, humans develop E. coli infection.
The symptoms of infection include nausea, cramps, diarrhea, headache, abdominal cramping, vomiting, fever, and fatigue. Toddlers, kids and elderly people are at higher risk of infection because of their weak immune system.
Boil Order Still In Effect
The latest update on Lindon City's Facebook page about the advisory says that the order is still in place "until further notice." The general update posted on Dec. 25, 2016 at 8:25 p.m. informs that chlorine has been introduced in wells, tanks, and in some portions of the main water lines.
"We're flushing the lines right now and testing chlorine residuals. We want to ensure you have safe drinking water and will update you as soon as we have additional information," the post reads.
