Slidell officials say water is safe

Slidell residents will get a notice in their next water bills warning them of an “accidental contamination” in the city’s water supply.

However, Slidell officials say the water is safe to drink and there is no cause for alarm.

“This is not an emergency,” Water and Sewer Superintendent Mike Isenberg said. “Action has been taken to eliminate the contamination. You do not need to boil your water or take any other corrective actions.”

Isenberg said this was a “minor violation,” but according to federal regulations the city has to inform the public of such violations. He also said such minor violations occur in city water systems all over the country.

Isenberg said the contamination was inadvertent and that an increase of coliform bacteria that exceeded the maximum containment level allowed by federal and state regulations was found during routine testing of the water supply.

Even though this is not a real health hazard, Isenberg advises persons with weakened immune systems, infants and senior citizens may be at increased health risk. He advised these groups should get advice from their doctors about drinking city water.

Coliform bacteria has several strains, some of which are responsible for diarrheal diseases. Isenberg said coliform bacteria are naturally occurring in the environment, and their presence are used as an indicator that other potentially harmful bacteria like E. coli and fecal coliform may be present in the water.

Isenberg said when more samples than allowed of coliform are found in routine testing, more testing is done for fecal coliform or E.coli.

“We did not find any of these bacteria in our subsequent testing,” Isenberg said. “If we had, we would have notified the public immediately.”

He said possible causes for the contamination may be improper handling of samples, water main breaks in the distribution system, failure in the water treatment process or a problem in the preventions of cross connections in the distribution system.

Isenberg stressed there is no need for alarm as the water is safe to drink.

“Total coliform bacteria are generally not harmful in and of themselves,” Isenberg said.

Copies of the public notice will be sent to all individual users of the city’s utilities, Isenberg said. He suggested people who get the notices inform others who drink city water who have not received the notice such as schools, businesses and people who live in apartments and nursing homes.

Isenberg also suggested residents who are concerned about health issues with the city water should call the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791. Anyone with questions is also asked to call the Slidell water supply office at 646-4291.