Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Official Notice to the end of the Boil Water Advisory


Boil-water advisory lifted for Cristalina Water customers near Ravensdale


 

OLYMPIA ¾The almost month-long boil-water advisory for Cristalina Water Co. near Ravensdale ended today, according to the state Department of Health.

A professional water system management company has made repairs, disinfected the water system, and collected multiple sets of water samples for lab analysis. Tests on those samples show the water now meets safe drinking water standards.

The advisory was issued Sept. 28 after potentially harmful fecal coliform bacteria were detected in water quality monitoring samples. The advisory affected 85 homes in rural east King County.

The state Department of Health inspected the water system on Sept. 30 and found a number of significant maintenance problems and no system operator in “responsible charge” of the utility.

The agency worked closely with the system owner to bring in an approved water management company to take over operations and make needed repairs in order to lift the boil-water advisory.

The department is also working with the owner and the state Utilities and Transportation Commission to develop a long-term strategy for the future of the water system.

“We know this advisory has been a challenge for residents served by Cristalina Water Company,” said Heather Bartlett, acting director of the agency’s Office of Drinking Water. “We’re now headed toward a long-term solution that will help ensure safe and reliable drinking water for years to come. Boiling water is inconvenient at best, but we didn’t want to take a chance on even one person getting sick.”

Since the boil advisory took effect, there have been no confirmed reports of illness that could be directly linked to the Cristalina water system.

Cristalina customers who have questions about their drinking water can call 425-736-4936.

We have signed a contract with Northwest Water Systems

You will be receiving a formal notice as soon as the Department of Health makes the official notice that the Boil Water Advisory is lifted.

The telephone number for the new water operator is : 1-888-881-0598.

Their email is www.nwwatersystems.com

You will be having all this information sent to you as well.

Thank you,

Maria Lindberg

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Last set of test satisfactory boil water notice will be removed!!!!

I am happy to report that our third set of tests all came back satisfactory today, the only other requirement we have to to sign a contract with the Water Operator. I am working on that right now. I just wanted to let you know as soon as I could that the water is good again!!!!
Thank you,
Maria

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Good News Continues! Test results of test taken yesterday all satisfactory!!!

We have one more set we have to complete on Monday.  We will get the results on Tuesday.  If all is well on this last set of test we will be lifting the boil water advisory!!!
I am also happy to hear that you all are liking out new Water Operator Mike Ireland. Thank you for the positive feedback!

Maria

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Great News! All 5 water test done yesterday are satisfactory!!!

We will be doing 5 tests again tomorrow and those results will be counted as our First set of 5 for the DOH.  It takes a day to get the results back so we are hoping to have great news on Friday night as well. If all goes well there we will have a second round of tests done on Monday. If the tests come back clean again on Tuesday then the Department of Health will lift the Boil Water Advisory.

We are almost there!!! Here is post from the new Water Operators Washington Water Service Company

Staff from Washington Water Service Company  were at Cristalina water system  today at Maria Lindberg’s request and completed a water system inspection, sampled and chlorinated. I have listed below what was found for pumping equipment and sample locations. If all samples return satisfactory, we will return tomorrow (10/16/13) to verify chlorine residual if any in the distribution system and pull five follow up samples from the system and if all are coliform absent, return and pull the second set of five samples in hopes of releasing the boil water order.
 
·        SO #1 DOE Tag AAB127, Located inside pump house (with felt pen written on cover, well pump starter listed this as SO2), 2 Hp Gould pump 20P4G02H installed 2009. Tested well pump into bucket at 30 GPM and with meter at 26 GPM onto ground and into reservoir.
·        SO#2 DOE tag AAB179, Located in meter box in field (with felt pen written on cover, well pump starter listed this as SO1) 3HP Gould pump 20P4H02H installed in 2009. Tested well pump into bucket at 30 GPM. Meter does not work properly on this well.
·        After flushing pulled bac-t sample from reservoir fill line in pump house.
·        Pulled bac-t sample from well AAB127 from newly installed sample bib on well head
·        After flushing pulled bac-t sample from well AAB 179 from new installed sample bib inside pump house. With other well pump turned off and reservoir valve closed
·        Pulled bac-t at 26927 314th Ave SE from outside hose bib on home.  (had long service line run with yard hydrant half way to home)
·        Pulled bac-t at 27129 312th Ave. SE from outside hose bib on home. (Home located on the corner of 312th Ave & Kent-Kangley Rd. may be on end of dead-end main)
·        Pulled bac-t sample from reservoir drain through newly installed sample bib.
·        Three booster pumps Gould’s 2HP HS020
·        Tested auto start generator, which started upon loss of commercial power and appeared adequate in running both well pumps and on booster pump while cycling.
·        Added six ounces of chlorine to the reservoir which provided a .43 mg/L residual
·        Installed 8 GPD chlorine pump on 30 gallon tub and set to below settings
 
·       Hypochlorite Mixture                          1.08 gallons of 12.5% hypochlorite per 30-gallon solution tub
·       Stingray Chem Pump Settings           3.5 on a scale of 1-7
·       Solution Tub Chlorine Strength           0.45%
·       Target Dose                                        0.40 mg/l  (No chlorine demand from Fe, Mn, H2S or ammonia account for)
·       Flow Rate at Injection Point                40 gpm
·       During time of temporary chlorination, pumps have been wired to both start on a first call basis to maintain a constant flow thus stabilizing the chlorine residual.
 
 
If some needed maintenance and some improvements are completed and  source and storage samples return satisfactory; I see no reason why satisfactory water quality should be able to be maintained without continuous chlorination.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Forensic Accounting Complete just reviewing individual accounts.

Just an update on what is going on with the billing process here at Cristalina.  Since I discovered Stephanie was not doing the billing correctly I have gone through all of the metered billing since it's inception with an accountant, the copies of deposits and bank statements.

One we completed this process we discovered not only did Stephanie not bill on a monthly basis as she was contracted to do, but she missed billing the month of May completely. We are sorry for this and will be sending the May bill out to you.  She did input the meter readings for May, but she never sent out invoices. I know that this is going to be confusing for a lot of people but we will go though the billing with people individually to make sure you are clear with what we have.

We have also found that Stephanie gave many credits that we have no record of receiving.  We are going to be contacting everyone individually to go over your statements and will be needing proof of payment in some cases where we have no record. 

We do have copies of every check deposited to the Cristalina account from the bank.  We also have copies of some checks that have disappeared. So you may have written a check, but we never got it deposited.  It has taken a taken almost 2 full months to get this information correct.  

Once we have gone though everyone's account then we will be handing over the billing process to a management company that will be doing all of the billing and disconnection notices. 

I know a few of you had let me know that you did not receive bills, which is what started off this investigation.  I really appreciate you letting me know.  Stephanie had worked for me for almost 3 years and I did not realize that she was not completing her duties. I have taken swift and direct action to correct them. 

Thank you for your patience and understanding and I want you to know that we are going to get this system shipshape as soon as possible.  This of course also means we need the money that is owed to us in order to get the work complete.

Thank you again,

Maria Lindberg

Washington Water Service is taking over as Water Operators for Cristalina

Our goal is to have the boil water advisory off within 10 days if all goes well.  We are having to Chlorinate the system again to get it clean again. (I know that you smelled the chlorine when we did it before).  Then we are going to have to put in a Chlorination filtration system.  This is what most small water companies use to keep the water from being contaminated. We have been blessed in the past not to have to do this, but unfortunately a few test have come back positive with Chloriform so we are having to install the filtration system.

Mike Ireland will be on site tomorrow testing the water in the system and Chlorinating.

I am so sorry you are having to go through this.

Maria

Friday, October 11, 2013

4 out of 5 Samples Satisfactory 1 has shown Coliform. Ugg! So bummed.

I am so sorry to inform you that one of our 5 test has shown coliform. I am going to look into what our next step of action is from our Department of Health. I will keep you posted. In the meantime we continue to keep on the Boil Water Advisory.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Cristalina Water Update

We have completed our first round of  5 samples on the system.  We tested Well 1, Well 2, The reservoir, and two homes that were at the end of roads. 4 out of the 5 samples came back satisfactory.  The one coming from Well 1 did not.  This is confusing because if Well 1 had bad water that it is logical that the reservoir and the two homes down the system would have a bad water sample as well.  We are testing again today to make sure there wasn't some mistake with the well sample.  We should have those results by Thursday I believe.

That being said, I am being told that even if all of our water samples are perfect that they are not going to be lifting the boil water advisory until we put in a chlorination system.  I have been requesting funding for a filtration system as well as funding to finish the replacement of the PVC piping and the replacement of the reservoir for 6 years. I have told them that we had a liability on our hands and that we could end up in trouble if I wasn't approved.  I keep getting denied by the Department of Health and the Utilities and Transportation Commission.  If I get denied again this year I will have no choice but to sell the system to someone who has money to finish the project.

I will repost as soon as I get the test results.  We are sending bills out again today and with it a form to fill out and mail back with your email and address and current phone number for emergency contacts.  That way we can set up an email to everyone where I will send a copy of the blog posts.

I am sorry that people did not feel like they got notified in a timely manner.

Let's all hope that all of our next set of water testing comes back perfect!

Again, let me remind you the DOH is not going to lift the boil water advisory until we have a filtration system. It is my understanding that we can have all of the satisfactory samples for months and they will not lift the ban. We do not have financing for a filtration system as we have been denied the past 6 years. In the past, we were able to lift the ban after we can 10 good samples.

The DOH has not provided me with the new regulations that say that a filtration system is required even if the system has been cleaned and we have good samples, but they have said that they are requiring one before they lift the ban.

Thank you for your patience,

Maria Lindberg

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Next round of testing will not be completed until we have the chlorination out of the water.

I will keep you posted as to when that will occur.

Maria

Corrections to the Previous post! Please note!!!

Hi Maria –

The Cristalina Water Company website is incorrect and that is generating calls. The generic form left in the word ‘E.coli’ (not correct) and indicated this event dated from 9/5/13 (not correct).

The lab reported fecal coliform on Thursday 9/26/13 and Marc Combs collected ‘repeat’ samples on Friday 9/27/13 which confirmed contamination on Saturday evening, 9/28/13.

I would assume that you know your operator was out to the system on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and following days working on resampling, corrective action and providing public notice.

Please let me know you’ve received this and that you’ll update your website so the customers aren’t confused more.


Ingrid Salmon
Department of  Health.

Copy of Official Post from Cristalina and the DOH


 

 




DRINKING WATER WARNING





The Cristalina Water Company Water System, ID 03014H, located in King County is

contaminated with fecal coliform / E. coli bacteria.




Fecal coliform bacteria were detected in the water supply on __9/28/2013____________. These bacteria can make you sick and are a particular concern for people with compromised immune systems.



DO NOT DRINK THE WATER WITHOUT BOILING IT FIRST. Bring all water to a rolling boil, for 1 minute, and let it cool before using. Boiled or purchased bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms in the water.



Fecal coliforms is a bacteria bacteria whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal wastes. Microbes in these wastes can cause short-term effects, such as diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms. They may pose a special health risk for infants, young children, some of the elderly, and people with severely compromised immune systems. The symptoms above 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. People at increased risk should seek advice about drinking water from their health care provider.



What happened? What is the suspected or known source of contamination?

We had a bad reading on our monthly water test.

There is no known source of the contamination but it is suspected that contaminates could have entered from the previous hatch on reservoir.




The following is being done to correct the problem:

We have done a chlorination flush of the system.
We rebuilt the hatch to the reservoir.



We have consulted with the Washington State Department of Health about this incident. We will notify you

Please share this notice 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.


This notice is sent to you by _____Cristalina Water System____Water System on __9_/_28_/_2013_

Contact :
Marc Combs
425-413-5954

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

DOH says we are on the right track

The Department of Health sent an engineer out last night.  He said that the chlorination that we have done seems to be working but they want to monitor it for the next week or so.  I believe testing is going to be done every few days to make sure that all the samples are clean before they will remove the Boil Water Advisory.

I will update when I hear how the samples taken today go.  We just have to stay clean until the DOH feels good about taking off the Advisory.  I hope it is soon!

Maria