Our Culture of Health is Relentless
Hello everyone,
One of the activities that we get involved with requires responding to acute public health threats in drinking water that could lead to waterborne disease outbreaks. These events can entail E. coli violations when there is confirmed bacterial contamination in a water system to line breaks that depressurize large segments of a distribution system. When a system loses water pressure contamination can enter and make people sick when full water service is restored. Both of these situations involve issuing what we call a “Boil Water Order,” which is actually a requirement to issue Tier 1 public notice under the Colorado Primary Drinking Water Regulations (Regulation 11). The Tier 1 public notice typically advises the public to boil their water or obtain an alternate source of water, like bottled water. There are other situations including treatment failure and chemical contamination that have resulted in Tier 1 public notices. In the case of certain events, boiling the water could concentrate the contamination, and so an alternate water source is advised.
Fortunately, the number of E. coli violations has decreased significantly in recent years, so they are pretty rare now. In the 1990s, there were 114 E. coli violations at public drinking water systems in Colorado, but in the 2010s that number was reduced to 32. In fact, from 2014 through 2020 there were only 11 such violations and most of those occurred at just a few systems that had not been previously regulated. We believe that water systems and certified operators have done an excellent job improving disinfection, controlling cross connections and protecting storage tanks resulting in the decline in E. coli violations.
However, our overall numbers of boil water orders has not steadily decreased. Of course, disasters like floods may cause increased numbers of boil water orders to be issued. But boil water orders from main breaks and other distributions system problems appear to have been increasing. It is hard to know if actual infrastructure problems are on the rise, or whether water systems are just more aware of the need to work with us through these situations and issue Tier 1 public notice. Earlier in this century we typically issued 30 to 50 boil water orders per year. That seemed to stabilize in the high teens during the four year period from 2015 to 2018, but since then ticked up to near 40 in 2019, 50 in 2020 and already about 10 in the first quarter of 2021.
Whether it’s an E. coli violation or main break resulting in pressure loss, department staff help water systems with assessing the situation, assuring compliance with the Tier 1 public notice requirement and reviewing the disinfection, flushing and sampling process that needs to be undertaken to lift the boil water order. Other situations are handled on a case-by-case basis. We provide these services 24/7/365. To get in touch with someone during an emergency, simply call 1-877-518-5608, the department’s incident reporting line and someone will get back to you. We recognize that water system personnel are basically always on the job or on call, and we will be available to help if needed. Our collective Culture of Health is relentless in this way, and never stops. We have helped water systems through natural disaster events, but also other emergencies that have occurred on or near every major holiday on the calendar. I remember that we lifted a boil water order one time on the day before a major holiday, so the public could enjoy the holiday without the terrible disruption that being under a boil water order represents. As always, thanks for all you do to keep tap water safe in Colorado.
➽ Ron Falco, P.E. Safe Drinking Water Program Manager
