Boil Water Advisory Issued for City of Jackson and Blackman Township

(June 27, 2023 3:04 PM) The City of Jackson has notified local media that there is currently a Boil Water Advisory in effect for the City of Jackson and Blackman Township water customers. The State of Michigan requires the City to share the notice (below).

In a statement, the City issued a summary of what happened to trigger the advisory and what is being done:

“There was recently a malfunction at the Water Treatment Plant that could have potentially impacted water quality. This triggered a mandatory Boil Water Advisory from the State of Michigan, resulting in the City of Jackson informing local media, along with City of Jackson and Blackman Township water customers. Tests of the water supply have not shown any bacteria. However, it’s important for our customers to know what happened. We plan on updating the community on the status of the advisory on Thursday, June 29 when more testing is complete. Residents using tap water for drinking or cooking should bring the water to a boil for 1 minute and then cool before use. Boiling kills any potential bacteria. Of course, residents may use bottled water if they are able to. Updates on this situation will be given to local media and posted on the City’s website and social media platforms.”

Below is the notice issued by the City of Jackson:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER

City of Jackson Experienced a Water Treatment Malfunction

BOIL YOUR WATER BEFORE USING

Our water system recently had a mechanical malfunction at the treatment plant causing high turbidity for a short duration. As our customers, you have a right to know what happened, what you should do, and what we did to correct this situation.

We routinely monitor your water for turbidity (cloudiness). This tells us whether we are effectively filtering the water supply. Normal turbidity levels at our plant are 0.10 turbidity units. The EPA sets minimum levels of disinfection that we must meet to help ensure the safety of your drinking water. Our disinfection is many times greater than the minimum requirement. A water sample taken on June 26, 2023, showed levels of greater than or equal to 3.00 turbidity units for about nine minutes. This was above the standard of 1.0 turbidity units. High levels of turbidity could result in an increased chance that the water may contain disease-causing organisms. Taking into account our extensive disinfection protocols it is out of an abundance of caution and to ensure our customers are aware of the situation, we are issuing this notice.

What should I do?

DO NOT DRINK THE WATER WITHOUT BOILING IT FIRST. Bring all water to a boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using, or use bottled water. Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and preparing food. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms in the water. Continue using boiled or bottled water until further notice.

People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1 (800) 426-4791.

What does this mean?

TURBIDITY HAS NO HEALTH EFFECTS. However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth. Turbidity may indicate the presence of disease causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches. These symptoms are not caused only by organisms in drinking water. If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice.

What happened? What was done?

The City of Jackson (City) Water Treatment Plant recently experienced an exceedance of the regulatory limit for turbidity on filtered water. We routinely monitor the water throughout the treatment process for turbidity, which is used to represent pathogens that may be present in the raw water and is related to cloudiness. The turbidity levels from one of our filters were elevated for a brief period in the late-night hours of June 26, 2023 due to an equipment malfunction.

The limit of 1 Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) was exceeded, prompting us to inform the public. Although this event may have resulted in reduced removal of pathogens, our water system contains multiple barriers to both prevent and detect contamination. For example, our water comes from wells that are of high quality, we add chlorine to disinfect the water. During the period with the elevated turbidity levels, we provided chlorine contact time resulting in 798% of the minimum required disinfection credit, to act as an additional level of protection, and we conduct daily sampling for bacteria that were negative during this time frame. The risk to the public water system was minimized thanks to these additional barriers, but out of an abundance of caution the water customers are being notified. Additional water testing is being done and we will inform you when tests show no bacteria and you no longer need to boil your water. We anticipate resolving this problem by June 29, 2023.

For more information, or if you notice any problems with your water, please contact Public Works 11^th floor 517-788-4170

Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.