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Local News

Drinking water warning in Freeport issued by BEDHD

The Barry Eaton District Health Department has issued a warning on Freeport’s water. The order, in its entirety, reads:

“During the fighting of a structure fire on Friday, October 27, failure of a valve occurred on the fire truck and caused raw water from the Little Thornapple River, mixed with firefighting foam, to be pumped into the water supply through a fire hydrant.

 

The foam was verified to NOT contain fluorinated compounds, however may cause irritation if exposed to skin, swallowed, or inhaled. In addition, water of unknown quality from the river also likely entered the system along with the foam, which increases the risk of contamination of the water supply.

 

What should I do?

DO NOT DRINK THE WATER, AND AVOID BODY CONTACT WITH THE WATER. Bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, bathing, and preparing food. Continue using bottled water until further notice.

 

If you have a severely compromised immune system, have an infant, are pregnant, or are elderly, you may be at increased risk and should seek advice from your health care providers about drinking this water.

 

What does this mean?

River water is more likely to contain harmful bacteria. It will most certainly contain some level of total coliform bacteria. 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.

 

To confirm there is not a risk associated with this incident, we will be testing for total coliform bacteria in the water supply. This will serve as an indicator that the steps we have taken have removed the river water from the drinking water system.

 

What happened? What is being done?

Immediately following the backflow incident, we began notifying customers in person of a do-not-drink status for the water supply. We also began flushing the system to rid the river water and foam from the system. We will conduct two rounds of bacterial sampling to verify this was successful, prior to lifting this boil water notice.

 

We will inform you when our sampling shows that no bacteria are detected. We will also continue to flush and examine the water for presence of firefighting foam to ensure there is no risk of body contact with the water.

 

We anticipate resolving the problem within as soon as possible. In the meantime, please continue using boiled or bottled water until we notify you otherwise.

 

If you have questions, you may contact Russ Yarger at 616-299-4223. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA's Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

 

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.”

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