San Luis mayor says drinking water is safe
Residents received a notice stating a water sample tested positive for harmless bacteria - News 11's Cody Lee reports
SAN LUIS, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Residents in San Luis, Arizona are concerned after receiving a letter stating their water tested positive for bacteria. That’s why the City of San Luis held a press conference to assure residents that drinking water is safe.
At the beginning of November, this letter was mailed out to residents stating that the city failed to provide necessary documentation within 24 hours of a positive coliform result.
The water tested positive on August 11th and a few days later it was re-tested and came out negative.
San Luis mayor Gerardo Sanchez is alerting the public to disregard false information saying the city’s water is not contaminated.
“I know there are social media moving around the idea that our water or that our whales are contaminated. And the thing is it's even reached Mexico to the point where people are saying that our wells are contaminated. Our wells are not contaminated, or water is not contaminated. We continue testing,” mayor Sanchez said.
The positive coliform test was found at Rio Colorado Elementary School. Out of 406 water samples collected this year, it’s only one of two positive results.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) must be aware of the results but the city did not meet the deadline.
City water department director Eulogio Vera says “that's pretty much what happened here. We didn't meet that 24-hour notice to retest, but we did retest."
Coliform bacteria are generally not harmful to people which is why the public is not in any immediate danger.
The city also confirms water has not tested positive for E. coli, a more serious bacteria.
“When you get a positive E. coli that's when you get worried and you know, especially us that we're a groundwater system. We don't use surface water everything's from the aquifer. So we’re at around 100% groundwater system,” vera explained.
The notice explains to residents they do not need to boil the drinking water or take any other corrective action.
As for the brown water that sometimes comes out of an outdoor hose or spout, “the groundwater you get the iron, you get some minerals, and one of the minerals in the pipes of our water is manganese. And manganese reacts with chlorine which we chlorinate our water, so it turns brown,” Vera added.
The mayor says it’s nearly impossible for drinking water and wastewater to come into contact with each other since all consumable water is distributed through closed pipelines.
