West Baltimore’s nearly weeklong water crisis ended Friday much like it began after E. coli bacteria was found in samples of the city water supply over the Labor Day weekend — with few details about what happened.
City officials fully lifted the boil water advisory for the area Friday morning, saying the tap water is safe for consumption again — after residents flush their water systems. But they also said they are still searching for the source of the contamination.
“We have narrowed it down, so it’s not our water treatment plant,” said Jason Mitchell, director of the Baltimore Department of Public Works. “We also know it’s not in the larger distribution area. It has shrunk.
“Our focus is in the small box that you see on the map,” he said, referring to a roughly 56-block area that includes the Harlem Park and Sandtown-Winchester neighborhoods. “We started in that box and we continue to say the focus is there.”
“The root cause — again — it may not be one smoking gun, if you will,” Mitchell said. “It may be multiple things that are happening, and so we just will let the science and the data lead us to that conclusion.”
Mitchell said that officials are confident that the city’s water supply is safe to drink, even though the cause of the contamination is unknown, because of the amount of testing they have conducted and will continue to conduct to detect any contaminants.
Multiple agencies, including the Maryland Department of the Environment and surrounding counties, have been working around the clock through the last 96 hours to help Baltimore test over 100 locations for contaminants, Mitchell said.
Residents now should flush their system for at least 15 minutes, by running all faucets on cold. Residents should start at the lowest point in their home and go up, Mitchell said.
Municipal water systems are designed to prevent contamination after the water is treated to be made safe for human consumption and use. The system of water mains and pipes into houses and other buildings is kept under pressure so that if there’s a leak, water flows out and nothing can get in.
Baltimore’s sprawling system, which serves the city and Baltimore County, is fed by reservoirs in Baltimore County and treatment plants at Lake Ashburton and Lake Montebello in the city. The system is aging and main breaks, which can cause loss of pressure, are common.
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