A Mountain View neighborhood has remained without safe drinking water for 11 days as crews continue testing and treatment work, with disruptions now expected to last into the weekend.
The water emergency started on April 24 when a contractor accidentally let cement slurry into one of the main drinking water pipes. The contractor’s work “was not performed under the direction of the City,” and the contractor was not scheduled to be at the construction site or doing work that day, Blair Robertson, a spokesperson for the California State Water Resources Control Board, told SFGATE. The contractor, C2R Engineering, a Mountain View company that specializes in underground utilities, did not respond to SFGATE’s request for comment.
Shortly after the cement slurry leaked into the pipes, 67 households in the Cuesta Park were ordered to stop using tap water entirely for a week. The situation slightly improved Friday when those households were put under a “boil water” notice, which instructs residents to boil water used for drinking or cooking for at least one minute. The affected residents are able to use tap water for showering, hand washing, running the dishwasher and running the washing machine.
As of Monday, the 67 households remain under the “boil water” notice, with restrictions expected to continue at least through Friday or Saturday, the city said on its website. Crews are inspecting waterlines and performing flushing work.
Though officials said the samples tested negative for E. coli, the samples did test positive for “low levels” of coliform bacteria. Coliforms, which are commonly found in soil and in the digestive systems of humans and animals, can signal potential contamination.
The water lines with coliforms serve 23 households on Drucilla Drive and Carla Court, prompting a “super chlorination” treatment that started Monday. The process disinfects water with a high dose of chlorine that can kill pathogenic bacteria. According to the city, the chlorine has to remain in the pipe for 24 hours before it’s flushed from the system.
Once the pipes are flushed out, crews will take two rounds of bacteria samples, Robertson said. The city needs two clean rounds of testing, collected a day apart, in order for the “boil water” notice to be lifted, and only the board has the authority to lift the notice.
In the meantime, the city, which is under a state of emergency, is offering residents $92 per day for meal or incidental expenses, hotel accommodations and community showers. Since April 25, the community showers have been used 61 times, city spokesperson Lenka Wright told SFGATE. Wright did not answer SFGATE’s additional questions in time for publication.
Robertson said a water emergency like the incident at Cuesta Park “has not occurred at any other public water systems in California.”
“Therefore, the extent and duration of the contamination is unusual,” she said. “The State Water Board has been in close communication with the City since the start of the incident and will continue support and guide the City through the investigation and corrective actions.”
The Cuesta Park Neighborhood Association did not respond to SFGATE’s requests for comment.
