CITIZEN STAFF REPORT
INEZ — The Martin County Water District violated a drinking water standard in November. While some customers say they received a notice of the violation on the back of their water bills the following month, other customers reported not receiving a notice.
MCWD board member Nina McCoy recently shared a copy of the notice with the Mountain Citizen. It stated the water district reported an elevated turbidity level of 1.0 units on the morning of Nov. 7, 2023. This was above the standard of 0.3 units.
The notice also stated:
“Because of these high levels of turbidity, there was an increased chance that the water may contain disease-causing organisms. This is not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified within 24 hours. Turbidity has no health effects. However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth. Turbidity may indicate the presence of disease-causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites, which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches. These symptoms are not caused only by organisms in drinking water. If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice.
“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. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.
“Staff immediately began taking steps to improve the coagulation and sedimentation process and were able to quickly bring filtered turbidity levels back into compliance. Samples collected on 11/8/23 showed no signs of contamination.
“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.”