Supply Tainted; Residents Given Bottled Water

PEMBROKE, Mass. -- Pembroke residents lined up by the score to get free supplies of drinking water Monday as they continued to try to deal with an E. coli bacteria contamination of the town's water supply.

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Town officials declared a state of emergency in the community as they searched for the source of the contamination. Selectman Willard Boulter, co-director of emergency management, said the water will be available at least until Tuesday.

NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that residents were told they could go to the local high school to pick up free bottled water for cooking and drinking from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday.

Pembroke Water Department officials issued a boil-water order late Friday, telling residents they should boil tap water for at least one minute before using it.

The first positive sample of the contamination was taken Monday, Aug. 4, and the second positive sample was confirmed on Wednesday, Aug. 6, but residents weren't notified until Friday by an automated phone call system.

"My husband was in the bathroom all Thursday night. I ended up in the hospital Sunday night with dehydration. I don't know if that's a coincidence, but it's never happened to me before in my life," resident Carol Casano said.

"I'm sure it was the water. What else could it have been?" she said.

Town officials said all of the town's 5,600 households were affected.

"It's hard to do dishes when you're used to having a dishwasher and it's hard to boil the water, wait for it to cool, do the dishes. It's a pain in the neck," said resident Terry Cleary.

"You've got five adults living at home and everybody wants to eat, take showers so, it's a little bit inconvenient," resident Barbara Scarpino said.

Fire hydrants were flushed and chlorine added to the supply as inspections and tests were conducted over the weekend.

"It's probably going to be either late Tuesday or Wednesday before we have the OK (to say water is safe), or they run into some other problems," Willard Boulter of Pembroke's Emergency Management agency said.

Ingesting E. coli bacteria can cause diarrhea, cramps and headaches. The source is usually bacteria from warm-blooded animals, said Walter Thornton of the Pembroke Water Division.

Officials said it was possible a bird got into the town's water tank and died, possibly causing the contamination. The state Department of Environmental Protection will do a follow up investigation into the source.

"We may never know, but we're going to try to find out, obviously, because we don't want to have to go through this all again," Thornton said.