DRINKING WATER NOTICE
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER
Tests Show Coliform Bacteria in
Greenwood Water Department’s Water
Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard. Although this is not an emergency, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened, what you should do, and what we are doing to correct this situation.
The Delaware Division of Public Health’s Office of Drinking Water routinely monitors for the presence of drinking water contaminants. They took five (5) samples for coliform bacteria during October. Two (2) of those samples showed the presence of coliform bacteria. The standard is that no more than 1 sample per month may show the presence of total coliform bacteria.
What should you do?
- You do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions. However, if you have specific health concerns, consult your doctor.
- People with severely compromised immune systems, infants and some elderly may be at an increased risk. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.
What does this mean?
This is not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified immediately. Total 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 treatment or distribution system (pipes). Whenever coliform bacteria are detected in any sample, follow-up testing is done 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 subsequent testing. If we had, we would have notified you immediately. However, we are still finding coliforms in the drinking water.
What happened? What is being done?
There have been no unusual events in our drinking water system. We will be increasing the free chlorine residual. You may notice the taste and odor of chlorine.
The Delaware Division of Public Health is still detecting coliform bacteria. We will inform you when our sampling shows that no bacteria are present. We anticipate resolving the problem within 2 weeks.
For more information, please contact Theresa Tharp at (302) 349-4535 or Sharon Dawson, located at the Office of Drinking Water at (302) 741-8630
Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly.
This notice is being sent to you by Greenwood Water Department.
State Water System ID#: DE0000558
Date Distributed: 11/03/05
