Boil Water Advisory Lifted for Animas Valley Water’s Morningstar Water System

Thursday, September 1, 2016 at 10:57 PM

The boil water advisory that was issued for the Harvest Gold water system still remains in place. The New Mexico Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau will continue to work with Harvest Gold water system officials to ensure the safety and quality of the water that is delivered to Harvest Gold customers. When the Harvest Gold water system returns to compliance, the Environment Department will allow that advisory to be lifted.

From the NM Environment Dept.

SANTA FE--The New Mexico Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau is allowing the “boil water advisory” for the Morningstar Water System located in San Juan County to be lifted. The advisory was issued on June 3, 2016 after high turbidity levels were detected at the water system.

Consumers of water at the Morningstar Water System were advised to boil the water before drinking, cooking, dishwashing and bathing. While elevated turbidity itself has no health effects, it can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth, and could indicate the presence of disease causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites, which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches.

The New Mexico Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau required the Morningstar Water System to take several specific actions in order to lift this advisory. Those actions included discontinuing use of the Morningstar Surface Water Treatment Plant, fully interconnecting to the Farmington water system, conducting system wide flushing of their distribution system, as well as sampling throughout their distribution system. The New Mexico Environment Department’s investigation of turbidity readings at Morningstar Water System continues.

In addition, the New Mexico Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau conducted verification sampling to ensure that the results of the Morningstar Water System sampling could be confirmed. The Morningstar Water System will be required to maintain a regular monitoring schedule to test the distribution system for the presence of Total coliform & E. coli.

The Emergency Orders for Animas Valley Water’s Morningstar and Harvest Gold Water Systems remain in place as compliance with those two orders will continue to be required. Fines accrued by AV Water system will continue to be assessed until all requirements of the Emergency Orders issued by the NMED have been met by AV Water.

(image: Flickr\Steve Johnson)

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