JACKSON, Wyo. — Residents of the Game Creek neighborhood have been warned not to drink water from the tap after E. coli and coliform bacteria were found in the area’s water supply.
Households in the Squaw Creek Water District received notice Friday, June 28, that a pipe servicing the area had been tested for E. coli on June 25 and results came back positive for the bacteria on June 26. Follow-up tests at and near that location revealed the presence of more E. coli and of coliform bacteria, a type of organism that doesn’t usually cause disease, but can indicate the presence of harmful bacteria.
“Our water system had a combination of routine and repeat positive samples where at least one of the positive coliform bacteria samples was also E. coli positive, which resulted in an E. coli maximum contaminant level (MCL) violation,” the Water District reported in its email to residents.
Residents in the affected area are advised not to use tap water to drink, make ice, brush teeth, wash dishes or prepare food before boiling it to kill bacteria. Water should be boiled for a minimum of three minutes to make it safe, the Water District advises.
The Squaw Creek Water District is also providing a potable water tank about two miles down Squaw Creek Road, where the pavement turns to gravel. Residents can fill portable water tanks with clean water from the tank until the problem is resolved, which the Water District said in its email should be by the middle of this week.
The Water District said it will be addressing the problem by “shocking the system with chlorine,” inspecting the tanks for potential contamination with a foreign object and following any recommendations from the EPA.
Some strains of E. coli are healthy and are found naturally in the human gut and the environment, but others, such as that found in the Game Creek pipe, can cause disease in humans. Symptoms of an E. coli infection usually appear three or four days after exposure and include nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, headache and sometimes fever.
