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| Water violation prompts letter |
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| News | |||
| Written by Brian McCauley | |||
| Wednesday, 06 May 2009 08:00 | |||
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Paola residents may have gotten a scare when they recently got a letter stating the city’s water supply had violated standards for bacteria, but city officials are saying there is no danger to water users. The letter stated that city officials routinely monitor for the presence of total coliform bacteria in the city’s drinking water six times a month. Two of the six samples taken in April showed the presence of total coliform bacteria, and the standard is that no more than one sample per month may contain coliform, according to the letter. Public Works Director Gerry Bieker said he was surprised by the results since the city has only had a couple positive test results in the past 20 years before the recent incident, especially since the chlorine residuals in the results came back fine, meaning the purification process was working correctly. He was not surprised when the results of the retests came back normal. Bieker said the original results were taken from an outside faucet at a home where the owner had rarely used the faucet. The second tests were taken from inside the home. Even with the original positive results, Bieker said there was no reason to panic. The letter, which the Kansas Department of Health and Environment required the city to send out, stated that it was not an emergency, and total coliform bacteria are generally not harmful themselves. Presence of coliforms can be a sign that other, potentially-harmful bacteria may be present. Follow-up testing was done to see if there were any signs of E. coli or fecal coliform bacteria in the water, but none was found. Bieker and members of the city’s water department keep a close eye on the city’s drinking water by taking samples from several different homes throughout the city. Water technician Rick Moore said the city is split into five zones, each with five site locations for tests. With the six tests each month, the officials do a total of 72 tests each year. For more information, contact the public works department at 259-3620.
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