Boil Water Advisory Lifted For 3.6K Berkeley Homes, Businesses

BERKELEY, NJ — UPDATE: The boil water advisory issued for residents serviced by the Berkeley Township Municipal Utilities Authority has been lifted.

Read more: Boil Water Advisory Lifted For Berkeley Township MUA Customers

A boil water advisory impacted 3,650 homes and businesses serviced by the Berkeley Township Municipal Utilities Authority.

The BTMUA ordered residents to use boiled or bottled water on Monday after detecting E. coli bacteria in tests of its water supply. RELATED: Water Distribution Continues For Berkeley Township MUA Customers

The advisory does not apply to residents who are serviced by Suez, Aqua, Shore Water or New Jersey American Water.

The BTMUA said, "We anticipate resolving the problem within 30 days," in a statement Monday. The cause of the positive results is still being assessed, the BTMUA said Thursday night during a meeting where commissioners provided a detailed timeline of the test results.

The BTMUA has been flushing its distribution system, and collecting follow-up samples from its storage tanks and treatment plant since Monday.

“We’ve done another round of testing and all of those test results have come back negative. The DEP has to review those results, but the protocol requires us to continue with the flushing,” said Michele Nugent, executive director of the BTMUA. “Tonight I cannot definitively give you a date that the boil advisory will be lifted, but I can assure you that is our goal.”

Escherichia coli can be found in the environment, some foods and the intestines of people and animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Some strains of E. coli can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness, pneumonia and severe infections, the CDC says.

BTMUA officials have said the contamination could have been caused by heavy rains that carried bacteria into the drinking source, a break in the distribution system or a failure in the water treatment process.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is requiring the agency to conduct nine tests in the impacted area.

“If they all come out negative, there may be an opportunity for the boil water to be lifted, but again, we’re working with the DEP,” Nugent said.

A routine water sample taken from a sink at the Central Regional School District on July 14 tested positive for E. coli.

“To get a result like that is not improbable with the water authority,” Nugent said. “Sometimes it happens, and the protocol for the DEP and the industry is to just do a repeat test at the site.”

DEP protocol also requires water to be collected from two sites above and below where the positive sample was taken, Nugent said.

The BTMUA received the results from the follow-up samples on Monday. Tests from the 7-Eleven on Forest Hills Parkway and Central Regional tested negative for E. coli, and the test from the agency's treatment plant on Station Road contained one total coliform.

Following these results, the DEP instructed the BTMUA to issue a boil water advisory to its customers on Monday, July 19.

“We put that message on Facebook. We put it on our website. We requested the township to put it on their website,” Nugent said. “We were getting feedback from people that they saw it on Facebook. That’s because we wanted to make sure the word was getting out to everybody.”

The agency has been urging residents to sign up for Nixle alerts online or by texting 08721 to 888777 so they can receive updates about the advisory.

Residents questioned commissioners about why the boil water advisory was not issued earlier as the follow-up tests were being conducted.

The state DEP protocol advises utility companies to issue an advisory after completing a retest due to the possibility of an erroneous sample, according to BTMUA Chairman Michael Hale.

“We’re not going to shut down a water system and panic an entire town,” Hale said.

Several residents urged commissioners to improve communication about the status of the advisory moving forward.

More signage throughout town was requested for senior citizens who may not see updates on social media or receive digital alerts.

Residents should continue to bring tap water to a rolling boil for one minute and allow the tap water to cool before using. This kills bacteria and other organisms in the water, officials said.

The BTMUA is distributing six gallons of water to customers under the advisory at H&M Potter School on Friday from 1 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Residents must bring identification.

Water distribution will extend if the advisory continues. Families can return daily to receive a new supply of water.

Keep up to date with what's happening in your community by subscribing to your local Patch newsletter here.