Cedar Hills residents get giardia parasite from dirty water supply

Written By Unknown on Senin, 17 September 2012 | 00.23

Cedar Hills residents get giardia parasite from dirty water supply

By Devon Dolan

September 16th, 2012 @ 10:58pm

CEDAR HILLS — Think about how many times you used water today to brush your teeth, shower, cook or wash your hands. You count on water from your tap to keep you clean and healthy, but what if it was doing just the opposite?

"Other neighbors had been sick for a couple of weeks, but we all just kept it to ourselves thinking it was a bug or the flu or something," said Cedar Hills resident Mary Moore.

Since early July, neighbors in a Cedar Hills neighborhood were getting sick. In September, symptoms got worse. Several people have been diagnosed with giardia since then, but what was causing it and why was it was spreading was not yet clear.

The only common factor among the 13 affected houses was dirty yellow water.

"So I got thinking, �Maybe they screwed up when they switched us over to Cedar Hills (water supply),'" said Aaron Michaels, a resident who contracted the disease.

That's exactly what happened. The area was getting their water from Manila Water Company untilntil they went bankrupt earlier in the summer. On July 5, a private contractor moved their line to an existing Cedar Hills system. That's also when neighbors started getting sick. The residents notified the city on Sept. 4 and public works began digging.

What is giardia?

Giardia is a parasite that can be found in water, uncooked food, excrement and soil.Symptoms include loss of appetite, fever, diarrhea,blood in urine, loose or watery stool, stomach cramps, upset stomach, bloating, flatulence, and sulpherous burping.There are several medications to treat the parasite, but often treatment is not necessary as the immune system is capable of removing the parasite. It can resolve within six weeks.

"We did find a cross-connect in (a) cluster of valves where there was a two inch lateral tied from the culinary irrigation to the pressurized irrigation," said City manager David Bunker.

Simply put, a small, unknown pipe was allowing in secondary water. But the city didn't know about it. It was never identified on the construction plan.

That pipe has since been patched up. The city has also flushed the system with chlorine and fresh water. They're will be testing the water through Sept. 21 to make sure the giardia is contained once and for all. Bunker said water wasn't tested earlier because it was already an active line there are no testing requirements.

But what about neighbors' pain and suffering?

"We've all been charged with the water," said one neighbor,"and they said �Well, we will work with you on your bill.' That's not what we want to hear. What we want to hear is that you don't have to pay for the terrible water that you've been drinking."

Mayro Gary Gygi said they will compensate for water bills during the past few months. Also said that all visits to the doctor, medication and time away from work should be filed with the city's insurance company.

"Anytime anyone gets sick we take that very seriously," Gygi said.

A notice which asked residents to boil their water in order to kill of the germ should be liften within a week. But some neighbors say they're still hesitant.

The community will have another meeting with the city on Thursday.

Devon Dolan, KSL Reporter/Fill-in Anchor

 

17 Sep, 2012


-
Source: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=22177222&nid=148&s_cid=rss-extlink
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Cedar Hills residents get giardia parasite from dirty water supply

Dengan url

http://getusedtohealthy.blogspot.com/2012/09/cedar-hills-residents-get-giardia.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Cedar Hills residents get giardia parasite from dirty water supply

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Cedar Hills residents get giardia parasite from dirty water supply

sebagai sumbernya

0 komentar:

Posting Komentar

techieblogger.com Techie Blogger Techie Blogger