The City of Brookings has corrected a mechanical failure at the City’s water treatment plant which resulted in water not receiving sufficient disinfection on April 7-8, 2019, City Manager Janell Howard announced today.
“We are required to disinfect drinking water taken from the Chetco River and for a period of 13 hours we did not provide enough treatment time because of mechanical failure and our inability to access the disinfection unit due to flooding.’ Howard said.
“This is a violation of water treatment requirements and we are required to notify the public accordingly,” Howard continued.
“This was not an emergency. If it had been, the public would have been notified within 24 hours,” Howard said. With the receding of flood waters on the Chetco River, repair crews were able to access the disinfection unit and make corrections.
“While we have not detected any evidence of contamination in, or other health threats to, our source water. While we are committed to maintaining the required level of treatment, we were simply unable to correct the problem immediately because the malfunctioning equipment was isolated by flood waters,” Howard said.
Inadequately treated water may contain bacteria, viruses, and parasites which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches.
These symptoms, however, are not caused only by organisms in drinking water, but also by other factors. If people using City water during the April 7-8 period experienced any of these symptoms and they persist, they may want to seek medical advice.
“There is nothing City water users need to do. You do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions. However, if you have specific health concerns, consult your doctor,” Howard said.
Please Like, Share and Follow the …
