San Luis Obispo County officials issued a boil water notice this week affecting the Five Cities area and Avila Beach.
Many of you reached out to our newsroom with questions about testing.
KSBY News spoke with the County Public Works Water Utilities Division manager, who told us they test the water every week.
According to public works, they conducted their routine sampling at the Lopez Water Distribution System on Monday and learned about the presence of bacteria in the water line.
As a result, a second test was conducted on Tuesday to determine if there was a false positive. However, the second test was also positive.
The county then notified the state division of drinking water, which required the boil water notice on Wednesday.
“While it is a trigger for sending out the boil water notice, it's an indicator it might not necessarily be dangerous itself, but it's an indicator that something could be going on in the system,” said Nola Engelskirger, County of San Luis Obispo Public Works, Water Utilities Division Manager. “So this week, when we sampled a few of those locations, Pop does what they call it in the industry, and triggered the second testing. So we did that again and again. That's what resulted in the boil water notice.”
Engelskirger told me that county public works received a lot of calls on whether water filters were safe to use to remove bacteria.
She said commercial filters are not appropriate to use under the boil water notice.
“We have one of those Britta things, and we're not using it, obviously,” said David Butimore, an Oceano resident. “So we're using bottled water for our needs. We're not doing any laundry until everything is back to normal.”
Engelskirger says the state will be joining County Public Works on Friday for a full inspection of the pipeline to help identify the cause of the contamination.
For more information on how to prepare yourself and your family under a boil water notice, visit READYSLO.org.
Local residents share their thoughts
Some community members KSBY News caught up with in the Five Cities area voiced their opinions on the water boil notice that was issued on Wednesday.
“It was a little scary at first,” said Teri Booker, a Pismo Beach resident
“It's a minor inconvenience, to be sure,” said David Butimore, Oceano resident.
One Pismo Beach resident told KSBY News the notice is an inconvenience, but she has been able to boil water at her home.
"It's not too bad,” said Molly Keene, Pismo Beach resident. “I boiled water last night, and I boiled water today. And I had two big bottles of water. We usually don't drink bottled water.”
We walked over to Pismo Brewing Company and spoke with a local resident who said she spent her Thursday morning searching for water.
“Most of the stores were out this morning, so I had to go to multiple stores in order to find it,” said Teri Booker, a Pismo Beach resident. “And then I had to send my husband elsewhere to buy bleach, so we can wash the dishes.”
