Coalinga Residents may not take time to read information enclosed with their city bills. This is the message included in July’s Statement.
City of Coalinga Has Levels of Coliform Bacteria Above the Drinking Water Standard
Although this incident was not an emergency, as our customers, you have the right to know what you should do, what happened, and what we did to correct this situation.
We routinely monitor for water contaminants. We took 29 samples to test for the presence of coliform bacteria in June 2019. Three of these samples showed the presence of total coliform bacteria. The standard is that no more than ONE sample per month may show the presence of coliform bacteria.
What should I do?
You do NOT need to boil your water of take other corrective actions.
This is NOT an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified immediately. Total coliform bacteria are generally not harmful in themselves. Coliforms are bacteria which are naturally present in the environment and are used as an indicator that other, potentially harmful bacteria may be present. Coliroms were found in more samples than allowed and this was a warning of potential problems.
Usually, coliforms are a sign that there could be a problem with the treatment or distribution system (pipes). Whenever we detect coliform bacteria in a sample, we do follow-up testing to see if other bacteria of great concern , such as fecal matter or E. Coli are present. We did not find any of these bacteria in our subsequent testing.
People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk. These people should seek advice about their drinking water from their health care providers. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1(800) 426-4761.
If you have other health issues concerning the consumption of this water, you may wish to consult your doctor.
What Happened? What is Being Done?
Routine flushing of the distribution system was performed. All repeat samples were abset.
For more information, please contact Matt Gomes at 559-250-5840 or PO Box 343 Coalinga VA 93210.
