COLUMBUS, Ind. – A boil order was issued in Columbus Friday after testing found E. coli in the water supply, but those living in the area said they wish they were alerted earlier.
Keith Reeves with Columbus City Utilities said the water is safe to drink.
"The water is safe and it was safe. There was never a risk of public health or safety,” said Reeves.
On Thursday, a water sample that went in for routine testing came back positive for E. coli. The water was re-tested from the same sampling location and got negative results for the bacteria, but on Friday they found more E-coli in a well.
"We followed the protocol as best we could,” said Reeves. “We alerted all the local media and we got the alerts out and it was eventually on the city webpage, there was some time delay involved in that."
Reeves said he has worked for Columbus City Utilities for nearly three decades and has never dealt with a bacterial contamination similar to last week’s incident.
"I went to the city's website. I went to the city's utility website there was no such boil order,” said Russ Poling.
Reeves admits he didn't share the bulletin about the boil order with the Bartholomew County EMA initially.
"I forgot. I do not have an answer to that," he said.
Columbus city leaders said they plan to take a look at the city's notification procedures to see how they can improve.
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