E. coli in Well Water Puts McLeod, ND Residents on Alert
Well water has tested positive for E. coli in the tiny town of McLeod, North Dakota, according to local news sources.
The water that supplies residents of this tiny town 55 miles southwest of Fargo comes from local wells that use groundwater. These wells have tested positive for E. coli contamination twice since 1986, news reports indicate. North Dakota state health officials plan on testing every well in the town on Monday.
E. coli Well Water Lawsuit
E. coli safety attorney Elliot Olsen recently settled a case on behalf of an Iowa toddler who became sick with E. coli poisoning after consuming the water that supplied the rural home her family rented. In May of 2007 she came down withsymptoms of an E. coli infection, including severe diarrhea and abdominal pain. She was hospitalized and her symptoms worsened as the pathogen infected her blood. She developed a condition called hemolytic uremic syndrome (E. coli HUS) that destroys red blood cells and keeps kidneys from serving their function as filters that remove waste from the bloodstream.
She was on dialysis and in the hospital for a month and still has long-term kidney damage even now, three years after her initial illness. She could need a kidney transplant later in life.
How Does E. coli Contaminate Well Water?
Because harmful strains of E. coli can live in animal and human digestive systems, they can therefore be found in animal and human waste. After any kind of precipitation—a rainfall, a snowmelt—E. coli from animal or human fecal matter can wash into groundwater, rivers, lakes and streams. This can consequently contaminate water sources and, if the water isn’t sufficiently treated, can make people seriously sick.
According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- Over 15 million U.S. households rely on private, household wells for drinking water.
- If polluted ground water is consumed, it could cause illness. Ground water pollution can be caused by seepage through landfills, failed septic tanks, underground fuel tanks, fertilizers and pesticides, and runoff from urban areas.
- It is important that private ground water wells are checked regularly to ensure that the water is safe for drinking.
- Typically, private water systems that serve no more than 25 people at least 60 days of the year and have no more than 15 service connections are not regulated by the EPA.
Source: http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/36320/
Tags: e coli in water sources, ecoli lawsuit, HUS
