Columbia gets violation after E. coli found in a water sample
South Carolina’s public health agency has issued a violation to the city of Columbia’s water system after E. coli was found in a water sample several months ago.
Paperwork from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control indicates a city water sample in April “resulted in a violation of the maximum contaminant level for E. coli.” The city and DHEC entered into a consent order that the city would investigate the matter and submit a corrective action plan to the state agency. The city has since submitted that action plan.
There is a stipulated penalty of $4,000 for the city if it doesn’t meet the requirements of the order over the course of six months, assistant city manager Clint Shealy said. He said the April sample “totally surprised” city water department personnel.
Columbia has the largest water system in the state. The E. coli sample was isolated and very rare, and the city’s water is safe to drink, Shealy said.
The city’s water department does hundreds of water samples every month at locations across Columbia. Shealy said technicians are watching for elevated levels of total coliform bacteria, an indicator organism that could point to a bigger problem.
In April there were samples taken in a residential area north of Elmwood Cemetery, in the Gadsden Street area. Shealy said a technician got a coliform positive sample in that area one day, so the city went back out and got several other samples nearby. Samples are typically taken from an outside spigot at homes, Shealy said. One of those follow-up samples came up E. coli positive.
That led to a “canvassing” of the area, with more tests and samples. All of those samples came up clean, Shealy said. The lines were subsequently flushed, the city searched for, and did not find, water line breaks in the areas, and a boil water advisory was issued for Gadsden Street between Florence and Darlington streets on April 14. That advisory was lifted the following day. There have been no additional E. coli positive water samples in that neighborhood.
According to the city’s boil water notice from April, E. coli “are bacteria whose presence indicates that the water may have been contaminated with human or animal wastes. Human pathogens in these wastes can cause short-term effects, such as diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms.”
Shealy said it is difficult to determine exactly why the one-off positive E. coli sample occurred.
“We involved a national water quality consulting firm to help us review our data and review our system,” Shealy said. “Collectively the best thing we could come up with is we had a sample error (during the initial coliform positive), then we went to another sample site we had never sampled before and probably didn’t let the faucet flush long enough. It could have been (caused by) pets in the yard.”
Shealy said an E. coli positive is an automatic violation with DHEC, and triggered the corrective action process.
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 11:34 AM.
