News
& Features
June 2005
IMPORTANT
INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER
Tests
Show Coliform Bacteria in Town of Brookfield Water System
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.
We routinely monitor for the presence of drinking water contaminants.
We took 10 samples for coliform bacteria during May. Two of those
samples showed the presence of coliform bacteria. The standard
is that no more than one sample per month may do so.
What should I do?
1. You do not need to boil your water or take other corrective
actions. However, if you have specific health concerns, consult
your doctor.
2. People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and
some elderly may be at 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 EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline
at 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 we detect
coliform bacteria in any sample, we do follow-up testing 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
our subsequent testing. If we had, we would have notified you
immediately.
What happened? What is being done?
The coliform was confirmed on May 9th and absent on May
12th. The system has been chlorinated and flushed. Samples are
now coliform absent. We will continue monitoring this situation.
We are in contact with the Department of Environmental Protection.
Both we and the DEP will evaluate the effectiveness of the steps
taken to see if any further action is required.
For more information, please contact Bruce Clarke at 508-867-5722
ext. 17.
