Boil notice lifted in South Okaloosa after water well tested for E. coli comes back clear

OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. — A boil water notice for more than 25,000 people in Fort Walton Beach has been lifted.

Okaloosa County sent out an alert to homes in the unincorporated parts of Mary Esther and Fort Walton Beach after E. coli was found in a water sample.

Water samples in the main treatment and distribution lines were tested and came back all clear. The water company issued the order with safety in mind.

According to the county, on Tuesday, officials collected samples from numerous public water supply wells in the Okaloosa Main system in South Okaloosa.

Hawkins Well had a sample that tested positive for E. coli (a potential indicator of fecal coliform).

The Hawkins Well went offline Thursday morning, not pumping into the distribution system. It was one of the largest emergency notifications Okaloosa County Water & Sewer (OCWS) has ever sent out.

People in this area were told to not drink their water unless it was boiled after a water sample was found to be contaminated.

“It was before it went to treatment we had a positive for E. coli” said Mike Hackett, director of Okaloosa Water and Sewer Department. “It’s found in animals, human digestive systems and it’s an indicator it could be fecal coli.”

Hackett says the sample was taken on Tuesday and the alert went out to the public on Thursday night.

OCWS pumped the well overboard (not into the system) and it took additional raw water samples to conduct further testing.

Water pumped from a well is sent to a treatment facility to be sanitized, and is then sent through distribution lines to homes.

Hackett says both the treatment and distribution lines were tested and all came back clear. It was water sampled from the well itself that came back positive.

The original sample was taken from the Hawkins Well. Neighbors say there were crews working on this well in the weeks prior to this happening.

Judith lives next door to the well. She doesn’t own a cellphone or a computer and had no idea about the boil water notice.

“Living next to it during a hurricane is great, I never run out of water,” Judith said. “I get good pressure. But when something like this happens and I’m not notified and I’m a former medical person, I’m not happy.”

The water company says human error could have caused the contamination.

“There is a process by when someone takes a sample and delivers it to the lab for testing,” the water company said. “In that process, particularly the process of taking that sample at the well, there’s the potential some little something is on someone’s hand. It can be nothing you can’t even see it, but it can give an erroneous result.”

So far no illnesses have been reported. Additional samples from the well were taken.

For more information, contact OCWS at 8506517171 (during business hours) or 8506517174 (after hours).