LAWTON – A boil order issued August 10 for the Sunnyside Water Association in Comanche County has been lifted, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced August 23.
“The order to boil water was issued due to the presence of E. coli” bacteria in Sunnyside’s water distribution system, said Erin Hatfield, DEQ’s public information officer. State and federal laws require that consumers be notified when a public water supply exceeds certain maximum contaminant levels and might be harmful to the health of consumers, she said.
During the nearly two-week period, customers of the water system were advised to bring their water to a full, rolling boil for at least one minute – or use bottled water or water from another acceptable source – for consumption, use in food preparation, dishwashing, and brushing teeth.
Sunnyside is a neighborhood outside of Lawton that maintains its own public water supply. The Sunnyside Water Association serves a residential population of 50, DEQ records reflect.
Sunnyside Water Association resells water it buys from the City of Lawton. “So far as I am aware, we do not know of a cause” of the water contamination, Ms. Hatfield told Southwest Ledger.
“Our system has a chlorine residual of 3.2 along the line that Sunnyside’s private line is fed from,” said Rusty Whisenhunt, Lawton’s public utilities director. “The problem of their failure is likely a plumbing cross-connect in one of their customers or a sampling error when the BacT test was sampled. There is no problem with the water delivered to them, and they do not pose threat to our system.”
Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria normally live in the intestines of healthy people and animals. Most types of E. coli are harmless or cause relatively brief diarrhea. But a few strains can cause severe stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting.
Humans can be exposed to E. coli from contaminated water or food, especially raw vegetables and undercooked ground beef. Healthy adults usually recover from an E. coli infection within a week, but young children and older adults have a greater risk of developing a life-threatening form of kidney failure.
The DEQ is responsible for regulating more than 1,300 public water supplies in Oklahoma. All public water supplies are required to regularly submit samples to the agency for routine testing to ensure that water is safe for human consumption.