There have been 14 documented water line breaks since April 2016 in Lafayette County, according to County Supervisor David Rikard.
When the Mississippi State Department of Health issued the boil water alert for Twelve Oaks Estates on Sept. 9, most residents did not expect the restrictions to last more than two weeks.
Twelve Oaks residents were instructed to follow health safety guidelines and advised not to use or consume their tap water without boiling it first or adding a small amount of bleach to it before drinking.
There have been nine water line breaks in Lafayette county this year, according to Karen Walters, director of compliance and enforcement with the state Bureau of Public Water Supply.
In regards to Twelve Oaks, Walters said the utility company has taken precautionary measures to prevent another break from occurring after the restrictions were retracted on Sept. 24.
“It’s our understanding,” Walters said. “that [Twelve Oaks Utility Company] have provided an additional construction entrance that could keep some of the heavy equipment from damaging water lines in some areas.”
Since January, water utility companies such as Anchor Water Association, Twelve Oaks Utility Company and Harmontown Water Association have been issued boil water alerts for their systems. These utility companies supply water to thousands of residents within each district, and when their systems malfunction, these residents are affected.
“We received phone calls related to residents being without water, which is why we initially contacted the water system officials,” Walters said.
“Most of the boil water alerts issued are precautionary due to line breaks or other conditions that cause a pressure loss,” Walters said. “On rare occasions, some are state-imposed and are issued due to E. coli found during routine sampling.”
On March 11, the 2,000 residents using the water system of Anchor Water Association were affected during boil water alert. On Aug. 17, several line breaks caused system wide pressure loss for Delta Rain, the Wellsgate Water Association company, which resulted in 1,200 residents having contaminated drinking water.
Walters said many of the water companies are working toward fixing the issues that cause boil water alerts.
“If there is a problem with their treatment, they obviously work to correct the problem,” Walters said. “If there are line breaks, they try to repair using a hot tap rather than shutting the water off, but sometimes this is not possible. With both of these scenarios, they would likely do additional flushing prior and check chlorine residuals throughout the system prior to collecting samples. Often providing a better product incurs cost to their customers, and often their customers are not willing to pay a premium for quality above the minimum standard.”
Wells for the City of Oxford received moderate-to-high rankings of susceptibility to contamination, according to the 2015 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report.
Although traces of barium, copper, chromium and lead were found, the levels were not harmful. In fact, most daily vitamins include these minerals because they provide health benefits.
High levels of contamination can come from damaged plumbing systems, discharge of drilling wastes, discharge from metal refineries, leaching from wood preservatives and erosion of natural deposits.
As this water travels over the surface of land or underground, it dissolves naturally occurring minerals and can pick up substances and contaminants. Though there have not been any reported cases of serious illness due to drinking contaminated water, these substances can still cause sickness.
“Typically there are gastrointestinal issues referring to bacteriological contaminants such as E. coli. We are not aware of any illnesses related to drinking water in Lafayette County, though,” Walters said.
Concerns about water safety have been voiced, and Oxford does not take these issues lightly, according to the 2015 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report.
“The City of Oxford works around the clock to provide top quality water to every tap,” Walters said. “We ask that all our customers help us protect our water sources, which are the heart of our community, our way of life and our children’s future.”
