Bacteria in Menlo Park water called 'not harmful' Bacteria in Menlo Park water called 'not harmful' (December 03, 2003)

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

After tests last month found bacteria in drinking water in the Sharon Heights neighborhood of Menlo Park, city officials made a change to the water line and found that subsequent tests were clean, they reported last week.

In a city notice published in the Almanac, officials from the city's engineering division also said that the bacteria had not been a cause for alarm. They said coliform bacteria, the microorganisms found in the Sharon Heights water, are "generally not harmful" and that no health emergency was present.

During a routine check of the water the week of November 10, officials from the city's engineering division found that two out of nine water samples tested positive for coliform.

"Coliforms are bacteria which are naturally present in the environment and are used as an indicator that other, potentially harmful, bacteria may be present. ... We did not find any of these bacteria in our subsequent testing, and further testing showed that this problem has been resolved," the newspaper notice stated.

Residents do not need to boil their water or take other corrective steps, but infants, people who are elderly, and people with severely compromised immune systems could be at increased risk and should consult their physicians, the notice warned.

The city regularly flushes the water lines to keep them clean, but in this instance officials believe the samples tested positive because the lines weren't flushed quickly enough, and because the flushing was done on the same day as the testing, the notice stated. Typically, tests are conducted the following day.

To help prevent a recurrence of the problem, workers closed a valve in the line to allow more water to circulate through more quickly, Menlo Park junior engineer Virginia Parks told the Almanac.

Besides publishing notices in the paper about the positive coliform tests, the city is required by state health officials to mail out notices to Sharon Heights residents if there are more problems before December 23. Ms. Parks said she didn't anticipate that there would be.

Residents with questions can call the city's engineering division at 330-6740.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.