Politics & Government

Harmless Bacteria Found in Fair Lawn Water

The contamination was limited to the area around Saddle River Road and Fair Lawn Avenue, where water purchased by the borough enters their system.

Coliform bacteria, mostly harmless organisms used as an indictor that something more nefarious like E.coli could be lurking, were found in about 15 percent of the 78 water samples taken in Fair Lawn last month, according to borough engineer Ken Garrison.

Samples are taken weekly and further tests revealed no other contaminants, including coliform.

The contaminated samples were found in the area of Saddle River Road and Fair Lawn Avenue, near where water purchased from United Water enters Fair Lawn's system, Garrison said. The tests also showed lower levels of chlorine residuals compared to what they normally receive from United Water — though the levels were still above what is required — he said. Chlorine is used to kill microbes in drinking water.

"They were just very, very low compared to what we generally receive," Garrison said.

United Water rep Steven Goudsmith said that the utility uses between four and 10 times as much chlorine as is required. Their own samples, also taken weekly, showed no coliform in Fair Lawn, he said. They also took samples in Fair Lawn's system and found no coliform there.

"The water that Fair Lawn has received has been of exceptional quality," Goudsmith said.

Goudsmith couldn't say why Fair Lawn's samples would have shown coliform while theirs did not.

Fair Lawn gets water from its own wells and buys some from United Water and the Passaic Valley Water Commission. The amount of water the borough has to buy from the utilities varies, as the demand usually doubles in the summer and their own wells provide only a finite amount. Fair Lawn buys as much as 20 or 25 percent of their water from United Water during the summer, according to Garrison.

The borough sent out letters explaining the findings to residents this week, raising some eyebrows. The EPA requires water providers to notify their customers if 5 percent or more of samples reveal coliform. 

Coliform bacteria are found all over the place, and most are not harmful to people. Their presence in drinking water just means that other organisms could also be there.

"You have coliform all over your arms and hands and everything else," Garrison said.

The amount of coliform found in Fair Lawn's water were low enough that, under new standards adopted by the EPA taking effect in 2015, the borough wouldn't have even needed to notify residents of the findings. 

If something harmful had been found in the water, boil water notices and reverse 911 calls would have been sent out that day, Garrison said.


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