Bloomfield suspended a Boil Water Advisory on Wednesday afternoon, a day after it had issued a boil water advisory to all residents after a routine water sample tested positive for E. coli bacteria. (See updated response from the township at end of this post.)
“You no longer need to boil your water and can resume normal use of the water. Follow-up sampling and investigation has determined that there is not, nor has there been, any presence of e-coli in the Bloomfield water system at this time,” Mayor Ted Gamble wrote in an email received by the Local. “Only one location came back positive and after further testing it was determined that it was contaminated on site and not indicative of a system wide problem. As indicated, this advisory was done out of an abundance of caution and followed DEP guidelines. Further information please check the township website, or call the water department at 973-680-4009.”
When the Township of Bloomfield issued the boil water advisory in an emergency announcement Tuesday, it urged residents to boil all water for consumption, brushing teeth, and washing dishes for at least one minute before use.
“Use of bottled water is encouraged. We anticipate this advisory to be in effect for the next 36 to 48 hours.”
The alert stated that “further information can be found on the township website, or by calling the Water Department at 973-680-4009. The township will continue to update residents through the website, social media, our Cable TV Channels 35 on Comcast and 30 on FIOS and through further telephone announcements.”
In a previous update on the Township’s website showed a message that routine samples collected on June 18, 2024, and June 20, 2024, confirmed the presence of E. coli.
However, in a latest update yesterday, the township said, “Follow-up sampling and investigation have determined that there is not, nor has there been, any presence of E. coli in the Bloomfield water system at this time. As indicated, this advisory was done out of an abundance of caution.”
The Local sent an email to Gamble, Paul Lasek from the Engineering department, and the office of emergency management and questioned if there’s confirmation whether E. coli was ever present in the water supply and if not, what led to the initial error suggesting its presence.
On June 28, in an email to the Local, Lasek explained there was no e-coli within the water distribution system of the township.
The email read:
“Routine samples were collected on June 18th. Results of the sampling are not instantaneous and cannot provide “real time” results. The samples need to be sent to a laboratory and placed in petri dishes to determine if coliform bacteria will form. This takes at least one to two days. This first round of sampling came back with a total coliform positive (TC+) at the sample location. This was the only site to come back with a positive result. It should also be noted that this was the only positive result out of 50 samples for June. There were no positive results in any of the samples taken in May.
A TC+ result does not indicate that E-coli is present in the water, merely the potential that it may exist. EPA regulations indicate that if a TC+ sample is found, resampling of the location is required, as well as locations upstream and downstream of the positive result. Samples were redrawn at this location as well as upstream and downstream which yielded an e-coli positive at the original site. The upstream and downstream were both negative for coliform (“clean”).
Once an E.coli positive (EC+) is found, we are required to notify the NJDEP which ultimately lead to a boil water notice which occurred on June 24th.
After flushing the hydrant in front of this location, samples were taken again at the EC+ location; the upstream and downstream locations, as well as other locations throughout the township. All samples, including the EC+ sample were all negative for coliform when the results were returned.
In general, this was an unusual situation. Boil water notices generally occur due to a watermain break or a loss of water pressure within the distribution system. Under such circumstances, boil water notices are issued immediately, without any initial analysis or evaluation, because the risk of e-coli in the entire system is possible. This was not the case in this instance. There were no watermain breaks and no loss of pressure within the distribution system. Other than a single sample, the sampling performed prior to this, in June, and the months prior indicated compliant water quality, related to ALL monitored contaminants. Furthermore, sampling done during the boil water notice indicated the absence of coliform at the original site as well as other locations throughout the township which resulted in the NJDEP allowing us to suspend the boil water notice. This also leads to the conclusion that this was an isolated incident at this particular location and there was no e-coli within the distribution system of the township.
Based upon the investigation, and all the sampling results, the conclusion was drawn that this one particular sample, may have been compromised during the sampling process. This is rare, but does occur. If there was an e-coli presence in the Bloomfield water system, you would expect it to show up at other locations, particularly ones directly upstream and downstream. The upstream and downstream samples taken never indicated the presence of coliform. The other samples taken at this time at other locations in the township were all negative for the presence of coliform. Furthermore, the disinfection concentrations (chlorine) in the drinking water were all at acceptable levels that would prevent the formation of any form of coliform. Thus the conclusion was that the water distribution system was clean of coliform. The EC+ result most likely was a contaminated sample that occurred at the tap where it was taken as was not present in the distribution system. The evidence is clear.
It should also be noted that sampling for all monitored contaminants (Lead, total coliform, disinfection byproducts) have been at compliant EPA levels since at least 2020. There may be some violations related to record keeping and reporting, but none of these impact the actual quality of the water. I would strongly argue that the drinking water in Bloomfield, at this time, is safe and compliant and has been for a number of years. As a resident of Bloomfield I have no hesitation in drinking this water from my tap or using it for any consumable purpose.”
Further, detailed information on our water supply can be found on our website under the Consumer Confidence Reports.
