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Welcome To Toy Town News Flash!>
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER
July 8, 2010
TEST SHOWED COLIFORM BACTERIA IN WINCHENDON WATER.
Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard. Although this incident was not an emergency, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened and what we did to correct this situation.
We routinely monitor for drinking water contaminants. We took 11 samples to test for the presence of coliform bacteria during June 2010. One of our samples showed the presence of total coliform bacteria. Repeat samples were required to be taken at the site along with an upstream and downstream sample. Two of the three samples tested positive for total coliform bacteria. The standard is that no more than 1 sample per month/5 percent of samples may do so. Another set of repeat samples at the same sites were required and all three samples tested negative for total coliform bacteria.
WHAT SHOULD I DO?
- YOU DO NOT NEED TO BOIL YOUR WATER OR TAKE OTHER CORRECTIVE ACTIONS. However, if you have specific health concerns, concult your doctor.
People with severly compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk. These people should seek advise 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?
This is not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified immediately. Coliform bacteria are generally not harmful themselves. Coliforms are bacteria which are naturally present in the environment and are used as an indicator that other, potentially-harmful, bateria may be present. Coliforms 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 system's treatment or distribution system (pipes). Whenever we detect coliform bacteria in any sample, we do follow-up testing to see if other bacteria of greater concern, such as fecal coliform or E. coli, are present. WE DID NOT FIND ANY OF THESE BACTERIA IN OUR SUBSEQUENT TESTING, AND FURTHER TESTING SHOWS THAT THIS PROBLEM HAS BEEN RESOLVED.
WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT WAS DONE?
The bacteria may be due to zero or very little chlorine residual being present in the drinking water in these areas or possibly to the contamination of sample bottles used to collect water samples. The Water Department flushed this area of the system to pull chlorinated water from the storage tanks to respond to the bacteria counts. Also, at the recommendation of the Massachusetts department of Environmental Protection, additional chlorine was injected to the main line feeding the area in order to address the low chlorine residuals. Both the Town of Winchendon and the Massahusetts department of Environmental Protection will evaluate the effectiveness of the steps taken to see if any further action is required. Resamples taken on June 12, 2010 showed no presence of coliform bacteria throughout the distribution system.
For more information, please contact Michael Murphy at (978) 297-0170 or 109 Front Street, Winchendon, MA. 01475
Please share this informationn with all the other people who drink this water, especially those whom ay not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a publlic place or distributing copies by hand or mail.
This notice is being sent to you by the Winchendon Water Department PWS ID#2343000 Date: July 7, 2010
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