GUILFORD – A sample of water taken from Guilford Lake which tested high in E. coli is no cause for alarm, according to the superintendent of the hamlet’s water district
“There is nothing wrong with the water,” assured Water Superintendent Jeff Fuller, after he learned some Guilford residents were telling people to start boiling their drinking water.
On Wednesday night, Fuller updated the Guilford town board on testing he has been conducting every other week at Guilford Lake since October. According to Fuller, the testing is being done in accordance with federal regulations established by the Environmental Protection Agency, which requires source water for all surface water systems be tested for fecal coliform bacteria including E. coli.
Fuller said he is required to take a total of 26 samples over 12 months, which are sent to Life Sciences Laboratories, an EPA certified lab located in Syracuse, for analysis.
“We had a hit on one sample,” Fuller reported, referring to a test sample taken from the lake in December. The test results showed 164 colonies of E.coli, a naturally occurring bacteria found in the lower intestines of animals and humans. While most strains of the bacteria are harmless and actually beneficial to their host, some can cause food poisoning and other illnesses. The EPA uses the E. coli test as an indication of the fecal content in water.
“We can’t figure it out,” said Fuller, who indicated he was surprised by the result as none of the other samples taken prior to or after the one in question had come back higher than a 6. “The lake water was really clear at the time; the sample looked clear.”
Fuller said it was the first time in his knowledge that any one sample has tested so high for E. coli. According to EPA regulations, source water cannot average more than 10 colonies for the 12 month period, which Fuller looks at as a maximum of 260 colonies in the year as he conducts 26 tests. He expressed concern that he was not yet half way through the 12 month testing period, but more than half way to the limit allowed by the EPA. If they exceed the limit, it could mean either conducting more rigorous tests or upgrading the water filtration system.
Fuller said he isn’t the only one who tests the lake on a regular basis. The county health department does a similar test two or three times a year, he explained.
According to the water district superintendent, the presence of the bacteria in the lake water he’s testing does not mean that E.coli is present in the hamlet’s drinking water.
The tests he’s conducting, Fuller said, are “raw water tests” on samples taken before the water passes through the water plant’s filtering and disinfection system. That process removes any harmful bacteria, he explained. Additional tests are performed after the water has been filtered and disinfected.
“We’ve never had a positive test to my knowledge,” Fuller said.