KALISPELL - The boil water advisory for the Evergreen Water and Sewer District remains in effect even as crews work to get the system fully functioning again.
The systems that failed on Sunday — causing the loss of water pressure — have been repaired.
It was decided — in coordination with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) — that the best course of action was to add chlorine to the 2.6 million gallons of water storage to kill any bacteria that may have entered the system through backflow when it lost pressure.
Crews in Evergreen released water through fire hydrants on Wednesday to clear the chlorine out of the system and be sure that any possible remaining bacteria was flushed out of the system.
“We want people to be safe with their drinking water. So, we would ask people to review the boil water advisory and determine what is right for them to protect their safety and the use of Evergreen's drinking water," explained Evergreen Water and Sewer District General Manager Cindy Murray. "We are doing everything we can to restore our system and ensure that the drinking water is safe."
Water quality tests will be done on Thursday with results expected on Friday. The boil water advisory will remain in effect until at least Friday when the results can be reviewed.
Anyone who would like to stay up to date can sign up for alerts on the Evergreen Water and Sewer District website, or monitor the website for information.
The following information has been provided by the Evergreen Water and Sewer District.
What should I do?
- Boil your water.
- People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk. These people should seek advice about 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 1-800-426-4791.
What does this mean?
- As a precaution boil the water before consuming until advised otherwise.
- Fecal coliform and E. coli are bacteria whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal wastes. Microbes in these wastes can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms. They may pose a special health risk for infants, young children, and people with severely compromised immune systems.
- The symptoms above 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. People at increased risk should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. Inadequately treated water may contain disease-causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches.
What is being done?
- Disinfection and flushing of the system will be completed this week. We currently expect this to occur by late Wednesday.
- Bacteriological samples of the water will be collected as soon as normal operations return. We expect those samples as soon as Thursday and will post the results when we receive them. The testing normally takes 24 hours.
- Personnel are closely monitoring the situation and will update users.
- For more information, please contact 406-257-5861.
- General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.
