April 19, 2024

New information received on Greenfield Bottled Water Warning

By CALEB NELSON

Greenfield residents collect bottled water in the parking lot of Greenfield Lumber Tuesday afternoon. Hy-Vee's Creston and Winterset locations, Fareway Stores and Dollar General donated water to the community after much of Adair County that is served by Greenfield Municipal Utilities went under a Bottled Water Warning and Drinking Water Advisory due to a blue-green algae found on Lake Greenfield, a source of water for the utility. Greenfield resident Kenneth McWhorter said, "I think it's marvelous that we have water and it brings the community together. You can see unity here today as people line up for water. That these stores bend over backward to supply us with water, they deserve a big 'Thank you.'" (CNA photo)

New information was received at around 9 a.m. today from Greenfield Municipal Utilities, which issued a Bottled Water Advisory Tuesday telling customers in the affected area they couldn't even boil their water and needed to ingest only bottled water.

GMU received the results of water samples sent to a lab Tuesday afternoon and have found that all the results show levels below the reporting limit for mirocrystin.

The report says that the water in the city's sytem, which actually services customers in the northern half of Adair County as well through SIRWA, is free from toxins and is safe for pet and livestock consumption. The City of Fontanelle is not included in the Advisory.

The warning came after a routine check of the water for turbidity or cloudiness revealed turbidity levels of 2.5 turbidity units, which is much higher than the standard of 1 turbidity unit.

In addition, observations indicated the presence of a blue-green algae bloom on Lake Greenfield, a major water source for Greenfield. For these reasons, there was perceived to be an increased chance the water could contain disease-causing organisms and compounds that could cause adverse health effects.

"Healthy adults may use the water for bathing, washing hands and doing laundry. The water may be used for flushing toilets," the original release from GMU midday Tuesday said. "Bottle-fed infants and children younger than age 6 must be supervised while bathing to prevent accidental ingestion of water. Providing a final rinse of skin with uncontaminated water is recommended for people with open wounds or skin conditions such as eczema."

Southern Iowa Rural Water Association customers all over southwest Iowa were under a boil order for much of the first half of June when the 12-Mile Water Treatment Plant in Creston experienced problems with its membrane filtration system, but that problem and this drinking water warning are in no way connected.

"We're constantly taking samples of our water and we had a couple of samples that were over our allowed turbidity," GMU General Manager Scott Tonderum said early Tuesday afternoon. To his knowledge, Tonderum said Greenfield has never faced a problem with its drinking water like this.

Merchants in Greenfield immediately went into action to aid those affected by the Bottled Water Advisory. HyVee stores from Creston and Winterset, Casey's and Fareway donated water to residents and those cases of water were dispersed to the community in the Greenfield Lumber parking lot beginning at around 3 p.m. Tuesday.

"Future news releases will be forthcoming when the Bottled Water Advisory has been lifted," Tonderum said in a release this morning. "At this time, we do not have an exact time on that process but estimate to have the advisory lifted before the weekend barring any unexpected events. GMU would like to thank our customers for being patient and cooperative during this process. We also express our gratitude to Hy-Vee, Casey's and Fareway for their gracious donations of bottled water for our community and also the citizens who wolunteered their time to help hand out bottled water."