Meridian Township/East Lansing Boil Water Advisory

The Meridian Township Police Department released a statement this afternoon advising residents and businesses in Meridian Township and East Lansing to boil tap water for one minute before using.

Here's a portion of the original statement:

"Bring tap water to a rolling boil, boil for one minute, and cool before using.  Or use bottled water.  Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, washing dishes, brushing teeth, and preparing food until further notice.

What Happened ?  

Your water is routinely monitored for turbidity (cloudiness) to determine if it is being properly filtered. Water samples taken on August 5, 2016 had turbidity levels of up to 4.6 NTU turbidity units.  This is above the allowable standard of 1.0 NTU turbidity units.  Because of the elevated turbidity, there is an increased chance that your drinking water may contain harmful microbes.

Turbidity alone has no health effects.  But it can interfere with disinfection, allow harmful

microbes to grow, and may indicate the presence of harmful microbes, including bacteria, viruses, and parasites.  These can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms and may pose a special health risk for infants, some elderly, and people with severely compromised immune systems. 

But these symptoms are not just caused by microbes in drinking water. 

If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you should seek medical advice.

What is being done ?

The elevated turbidity levels were caused by an upset in the performance of filters at the East Lansing – Meridian Water Treatment Plant.

As of 10:00 a.m. on August 5^th, filter performance has been restored and turbidity levels at the Plant are returning to normal. Water samples are being taken throughout the City and Township to determine if any microbial contamination has occurred, but results of those samples will not be available for at least 24 hours.

It is likely that you will need to boil water for the next 24 to 48 hours until the problem is fixed.  You will be informed when tests show that you no longer need to boil your water.