Days-long boil order in Kamas could be lifted by afternoon after e. Coli found in water - KUTV 2News

Days-long boil order in Kamas could be lifted by afternoon after e. Coli found in water | KUTV

KAMAS, Utah (KUTV) — Kamas Mayor Matt McCormick said he predicts the city's boil water order that has been in place for three days will be lifted on Memorial Day.

“By Saturday afternoon, we felt confident that our system was good — we resampled and sent those samples to the county health department, and we got those results back at a quarter until 4. Those tests showed negative for any contaminants,” McCormick said.

The boil water order was issued on May 25 after E. Coli bacteria was discovered in the city’s water system.

Since then, city workers have been flushing the system, looking for cross contamination and taking daily samples.

They said they believe spring runoff is the cause for the contaminants.

“Spring runoff can bring things into your system, and I am not sure that our system was contaminated, I think it was isolated,” McCormick said.

But there are other potential causes.

“Changes in flows due to runoff or droughts, cross-connections and backflow issues, if someone is illegally connecting to the water system, you know other source issues,” said Ashley Sumner with the Department of Environmental Quality.

McCormick said the city samples the water twice a month, and he is confident in the their ability to identify issues like this early on.

“I credit the fact that the system works, the process of sampling a couple of times a month, identifying any issues early, and getting to work on those,” McCormick said.

The boil water order was still in effect Saturday, and Kamas residents were told not to drink the water without boiling it first. However, once the sample comes back on Monday, they will be able to determine whether or not it will remain in effect.