Bacteria in Clearwater's water puzzle utility (Chemtrails?)

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http://www.sptimes.com/2004/11/16/Tampabay/Bacteria_in_Clearwate.shtml

 

Bacteria in Clearwater's water puzzle utility

 

More than 20 city water samples test positive for organisms found

in intestines. No illnesses have been linked to the E. coli .

 

By AARON SHAROCKMAN

Published November 16, 2004

 

 

CLEARWATER - Traces of the intestinal bacteria E. coli have

been detected throughout the city's drinking water system, city utility

officials say.

No related illnesses have been reported, according to the Pinellas

County Health Department, and officials say the city's water meets

federal guidelines.

Utility experts, however, have not identified the bacteria's

origin. They hope to launch an $87,000 independent audit this week that

will diagnose the failure.

E. coli , a bacteria commonly found in animal and human

intestines, can indicate the presence of serious waterborne diseases,

including cholera, dysentery and typhoid. The E. coli strain in

Clearwater's water supply is not by itself harmful, said Mike Flanery,

director of the Health Department's environmental engineering division.

"It's a puzzle, and we haven't come up with any logic to it,"

Flanery said. "It could be a complete false alarm. But we're taking the

approach as if it's real."

Since September, 21 different city water samples tested positive for

E. coli

.. The positive results have spanned the city and puzzled water

department officials, who have not discerned a pattern or source.

In most cases, further testing showed no trace of the bacteria,

said city utilities director Andy Neff.

Before September, the city's water system had been free of

biological activity for the previous 13 months.

"Nothing we can tell changed in the system," Neff said. Clearwater

receives about 70 percent of its water from Pinellas County Utilities.

The other 30 percent comes from the city's own underground well system.

City officials have examined their own well water and have not

detected problems. Meanwhile, there have been no E. coli

hits elsewhere in the county's water network, which includes

unincorporated Pinellas County and Largo, Safety Harbor, Tarpon Springs

and part of Oldsmar.

The county had used chloramine to disinfect its water until Oct.

25, when it switched to chlorine, a stronger disinfectant. Clearwater

reported positive E. coli results both before and after the

switch.

Officials in Dunedin, which has its own well field, have not

reported any biological activity, either.

"It's pretty unusual, and the city's trying to grapple with it,"

said Bob Lowell, director of Pinellas County Utilities' lab department.

Pinellas County Utilities had three E. coli hits in its system

last year. Lowell, who has been with the department since 1978, cannot

remember another significant incident before that.

Along with the 21 positive E. coli samples in Clearwater,

there have been another 42 positive tests for coliform, a broader

family of bacteria that includes E. coli . Total coliforms

indicate biological activity in the system, Neff said.

In a normal month, city workers collect about 110 water samples

from water meters across the city. In September, after the first E.

coli

results were noted, city workers collected 1,510 samples, close to 15

times the normal amount. "Our people are going through every possible

combination or scenario," Neff said. "We're ruling nothing out."

The city issued three localized boil-water notices for residents in

September when multiple samples collected from those areas tested

positive for coliforms.

Clearwater's water system has always met federal Environmental

Protection Agency guidelines, water experts said. The level of

biological contaminants has not exceeded 5 percent of samples.

"The trend appears to be lessening, but that doesn't lessen our

concern," Neff said. "We need to have the answer. We need to understand

what's happening."

[Last modified November 16, 2004, 00:39:15]

 

 

 

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