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Dozens of Mountain View residents are without safe drinking water a week after a water main was contaminated in the Cuesta Park neighborhood. City officials say the situation is expected to last at least until Sunday, May 3.
Mountain View declared a state of emergency on April 25, a day after C2R Engineering, a city contractor, breached a water main at the corner of Bonita Avenue and Cuesta Drive, causing a cement slurry mix to come into contact with the main water supply.
About 67 households have been impacted by the breach. The city issued a “do not use water” notice to affected residents last week and told them not to drink or use the water for purposes other than flushing toilets. On Wednesday, the city partially lifted the restriction saying that residents could water their lawns and nonedible plants.
When testing the water, two of five samples came back positive for coliforms, a group of bacteria that is typically harmless. However, it can indicate the presence of other harmful organisms in the water supply, according to a fact sheet from the California State Water Resources Control Board.
The city is now stepping up efforts to flush out the bacteria from the pipes, according to Mike Vasquez, the city’s utility services manager.
“What the residents around here are probably going to notice over the next couple days is more construction,” Vasquez said at a Thursday press conference. “We’re doing pipe inspections. We’re looking at bringing in other equipment for more aggressive flushing.”
Mountain View cannot lift the do-not-use-water order until cleared by state regulators.
“It is dependent on what the state determines,” city spokesperson Lenka Wright said. “At this time, the earliest would be Sunday.”
The streets affected by the current restrictions include portions of Cuesta Drive, Leona Lane, Montalto Drive, Drucilla Drive and Carla Court.
Currently, there is no timeline for lifting the order, according to Blair Robertson, a state Water Board spokesperson. She told the Voice that tests are currently “underway to determine if the water samples are clear of chemical contamination” from the concrete.
If the samples are clear, then the order could be reduced from “do not use” to a “boil water notice,” Robertson said in an email. To lift the boil water notice, it’s typical “to have two tests that are clear of the coliform currently shown in samples and those tests are generally conducted 24 hours apart,” she wrote. Once that is clear, the boil water notice could be lifted.
The emergency declaration will allow the city to seek reimbursement from the state and federal government for expenses related to the water main breach. The city also is continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the water main breach, according to Wright.
“We are taking appropriate steps to preserve all available legal options, including the possibility of a lawsuit,” she said in an email. “However, the review is still ongoing, and the city will determine the appropriate course of action based on the results of that review.”
Wright added that the city has not received any reports of residents suffering from illnesses related to the water main breach.
“This is an extraordinary situation that we’re experiencing here in Mountain View for this affected neighborhood,” Wright said at the Thursday press conference. “We understand how challenging this is, and we are doing all that we can to help … But for the rest of Mountain View, the water is safe to drink.”
Robertson also described the contamination incident as something not typically seen in California.
“To the best of our knowledge, this was an unusual event and has not occurred elsewhere,” she said.
For updates and more information about resources available for affected residents, including hotel and shower options, visit the city’s website.
