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Times Report: Bacteria Found in NYC Water Towers

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In 12 water towers tested throughout three of the five boroughs, E. coli and coliform were found in at least five of the tanks.
In 12 water towers tested throughout three of the five boroughs, E. coli and coliform were found in at least five of the tanks.
The New York Times released a report that revealed that samples taken from  the water towers of 12 buildings in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn, the results were dismaying.

The samples found E. coli in five of the tanks, plus coliform in those tanks as well as three more tanks, totaling eight tanks with coliform.

According to the Times, coliform is not harmful on its own, but it is an indication “that conditions are ripe for the growth of potentially dangerous microorganisms.”

The positive results all came from the bottoms of the tanks, below the pipe that feeds the buildings’ taps, though public health experts say the contamination is still a concern because the water circulates throughout the inside of the tanks.

A public health microbiologist at Yale University who happened to have invented the test that is the industry standard for checking bacterial contamination in drinking water was consulted by the Times for the article. Apparently Dr. Stephen C. “was so alarmed by the results that he immediately alerted the New York City Department of Health and Hygiene,” the Times wrote, explaining that the department has oversight over the tanks.

“Fecal contamination means that the towers are subject to animal intrusion, almost certainly birds and potentially animals such as squirrels,” Dr. Edberg wrote in an email to the department, adding, “Clearly, these units are not sealed to the outside.”

City health officials insist that the tanks are safe, according to the Times. “The city’s 311 help line gets dozens of calls each year from residents saying they have become ill from drinking water, but health officials say no cases have ever been traced back to a water tank.”

But Dr. Edberg countered that this doesn’t mean people are not getting sick.

“It’s very hard, with a population as large and dense as New York, to even ascertain even reasonably large illness outbreaks,” he said. “You’d literally have to have entire apartment buildings getting sick at the same time.”

The thousands of tanks that dot the skyline are part of a water system that originates at 19 protected lakes and reservoirs in upstate New York. City officials like to boast that the system provides the finest tap water of any city in the world.

The Times explained that water tanks came into widespread use in the late 1800s, as the city’s water mains were unable to keep up with the requirements of ever-taller buildings.

“Even today, the mains provide only enough pressure to deliver water to the sixth floor of most buildings. Taller buildings use electric pumps to carry water to a spout at the top of the water tanks, letting gravity do the rest. An exit pipe about midway down distributes drinking water to the building, while another pipe near the bottom is used for sprinkler systems and firefighting,” according to the Times.

Even worse, building news building owners are not required to submit proof to the city that cleanings and inspections have been conducted, as they do for elevator and boiler inspections. Until recently, they did not have to provide evidence of the inspections to their tenants.

Furthermore, city health and buildings officials cannot even say for sure how many water tanks are in use. Estimates range from 12,000 to 17,000, based on the inventory of buildings that stand seven stories or taller.

The Times reported that Dan Kass, the health department’s deputy commissioner for environmental health, said, when asked if neglecting to clean and inspect the tanks could have negative health consequences, Dan Kass, the health department’s deputy commissioner for environmental health, said, “We don’t have any evidence that there is.”

During a 2009 City Council hearing, a department official said that the city had other ways to keep tabs on water quality, by taking samples from taps all over the city every month, as well as monitoring hospital visits and medication sales for signs of outbreaks. The official said in cases where the department receives a complaint about water quality, the water was found to be safe 99 percent of the time.

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