Water at Kamiak Butte to be regularly chlorinated

The drinking water at Kamiak Butte will now be regularly chlorinated after too much coliform bacteria was found there in mid-summer.

The park’s eight water spickets are now shut down for winter, but the new chlorinating system will be up and running by Oct. 20, said county parks operations and trails coordinator Justus Barton.

The issue of the bacteria came up last summer after the Department of Health discovered the coliform in test samples from the park’s regular coliform monitoring program.

“We received a bunch of samples back testing positive for total coliform. It’s an indicator of potentially harmful pathogens in the water,” Barton said.

Park staffers flushed all of the Kamiak Butte water system and sent in more water samples, only to receive back samples which were even worse. Some contained ecoli bacteria, Barton said.

“We did have ecoli in the water for a short period of time. So what we had to do was post a ‘boil water’ order. So it was posted for the public so people could understand what was happening,” Barton said. The drinking fountains were covered up.

Barton and a department of health inspector checked the whole water system for the source of the bacteria, but never found any strong evidence of the source.

Barton pointed out the water pipes beneath the park are probably more than 55 years old.

“With time, the system faces challenges,” he said. The department of health said bacteria can sometimes grow very quickly in warm weather; the most severe samples came in hot weather.

Barton is now installing a chlorinating system, which will regularly inject chlorine into the water.

The water system at another county park, Wawawai, is also chlorinated.