The water on the University of Idaho campus is now safe to drink, according to Brian Johnson, assistant vice president for facilities. Slightly elevated chlorine levels prompted the University of Idaho Environmental Health and Safety department to recommend that no one drink the water earlier today.
“I don’t believe it is huge quantity of chlorine, but we (asked) people not to drink it and (asked) food services to use filtered water in beverages and things,” said Samir Sahat, director for Environmental Health and Safety. “We are conservative in our decision. It is not a huge amount, but at the same time we don’t want people to get sick if they are allergic.”
Johnson said the highest recorded chlorine level was six parts per million. EHS recommends chlorine levels remain below five parts per million.
Johnson said the elevated levels were caused by a pump failure in the chlorination system.
“As well water is drawn in and pumped through the university’s distribution system it’s usually chlorinated, very similar to most drinking water systems,” Johnson said. “The pump that feeds the chemical failed, allowing more than expected sodium-hypochlorite into the system.”
Johnson said facilities employees worked to flush out the system for several hours. Johnson said any Greek houses that draw from city water, as opposed to campus water, were not affected by the leak.
Johnson said the affected water was flushed out by adding fresh water to the system to dilute the chlorine concentration and bring the levels down. Johnson said the water was tested many times until the water reached satisfactory levels.
“We do a lot of flushing and then testing in multiple areas, because the reading you get in one place may not be a representation of the same thing four blocks away,” Johnson said.
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]