Coliform bacteria’s presence in water would likely make anyone contemplating drinking it to boil it, just in case.
“Hanover, Mass. had a situation recently where the town discovered bacterial contamination in their water supply,” explained Larry Wardell, who writes for H2olabs.com, a provider of water distiller systems that provide truly pure distilled water. “To be more precise, they found coliform and E. coli during routine water testing. Further testing showed that the town’s distribution system still tested positive for coliform bacteria the next day they sampled the water, but not for E. coli. They found this distinction encouraging.”
The distinction between the presence of coliform bacteria and E. coli may seem minimal to end users of water, but to the town administration, it meant the difference between issuing a boil water advisory and not putting out that warning. Their rationale was that coliform bacteria is always present in most animal and human feces and is not specifically harmful to humans, and that the bacteria are used to call attention to the presence of contamination in a water supply.
“I don’t know about you, but if I was told there were coliform bacteria present in my drinking water, I’d be buying a water distiller or installing water distillation systems in my home,” Wardell commented. “I would not want to take any chances with my health, or that of my family’s. To me, and to most other Americans, if their water is contaminated with coliform or E. coli, I’d boil despite what the town told me until I had a way to ensure I had safe water.”
The town was able to track down the source of the pollution and shut it off, which led to several rounds of extra chlorine being pumped into the water supply until their samples tested clean. In the meantime, people would smell and taste the after effects. In other words, their water would smell and taste like a swimming pool until the town was sure the water was safe.
“Actually, the easiest way for local residents to deal with this issue was to use water distillers. That way they would have access to clean, fresh and safe water on demand, and they wouldn’t have to worry about whether they should drink their water or not,” said Wardell.
To learn more, visit http://www.h2olabs.com.
