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Boil Water Notice Continues In Bethel

Helena

A boil water advisory is still in effect after E. Coli was found in the water of Bethel's Trailer Court neighborhood last week, and residents should expect the notice to continue.

Investigators found the bacteria in the water coming from just one trailer in the neighborhood. "Not throughout the Trailer Court, not throughout our distribution system, but at one particular site within the distribution system,” said Chris Lindrov, manager of the neighborhood's water treatment plant.

“Our wells both tested fine, so this is not a ground water contamination situation,” said Lindrov.

Lindrov says his crew has tested five other sites and found no E. Coli, but they did find Coliform, another bacteria associated with fecal matter, in one other unit. He says this is largely due to substandard living conditions within the homes themselves. 

“Many of these trailers have some pretty old and poorly repaired systems that could have caused contamination. There’s some plumbing within the trailers beyond our control that is pretty funky,” said Lindrov.

Lindrov emphasizes that these infections cannot travel back into the system. As a precaution, and in line with state regulation, he's hyper-chlorinated the water system to kill any remaining germs in the wells and pipes.

Lindrov says that the boil notice will remain in effect for at least another three days while they do repeat tests, but he doesn’t feel the need to follow the guidelines himself. 

“I’m drinking this water right now from the water system. Ummmm, it’s really good, but I can’t tell anybody else to drink it. Because our other sites have tested fine, I’m comfortable in drinking it myself,” said Lindrov.