(Published in The Norman Transcript July 11, 2015, 1t) PUBLIC NOTICE IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER Test Showed Coliform Bacteria at One Sample Site from Noble. The Situation is Now Resolved. Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard during the month of May 2015 for the presence of Total Coliform Bacteria. Although this incident was not an emergency nor did it pose a health risk to the public, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened and what we did to correct this situation. After additional test following May 26, 2015, we have not found total coliform bacteria in the water. We routinely monitor for drinking water contaminants. We took 12 samples to test for the presence of coliform bacteria during May 2015. 2 of our samples showed the presence of total coliform bacteria. The standard is no more than 1 sample or 5% of samples may do so. Further, we are required to monitor for specific contaminants on a regular basis. What should I 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 increased risk. These people should seek advice about drinking water from the health care providers. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPAs Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791. What does this mean? This was not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified immediately. Coliforms bacteria are generally not harmful themselves. Coliform are bacteria that 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. Usually, coliforms are a sign that there could be a problem with the water treatment (disinfection) 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 bacteria or E. coli, are present. We did not find any of these bacteria in our subsequent testing. If we had, you would have been notified immediately. Here is what happened and how we responded. We took 6 initial samples for 6 separate sites on May 18 to test for the presence of Coliform Bacteria during May 2015. Of the 6 samples only 1 showed the presence of total coliform bacteria. This sample site had been vacant for over 1 year and the sample was taken from an outside water spigot. This triggered a resample of this site on May 19, plus a site upstream and downstream and all active water wells. This site again showed signs of total coliform (only this site), all other test were absent of total coliform bacteria. This triggered a third round of sampling on May 21. We ran additional water through the site spigot and disinfected it again. The third sample from the site came back void of total coliform bacteria. No other action is required, because this was a site specific incident. The city continues to monitor our drinking water each month for the presence of Total Coliform Bacteria to insure public health. For more information, please contact Mike Blanton, Public Works Director at (405) 872-9251. Please share this information with all the other people who drink our 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 posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail. This notice is being sent to you by the Noble Public Water Supply, PWSID#: OK2001411. Date distributed ____________ Signed s/ Mike Blanton Print Name Mike Blanton
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