PRUDENCE ISLAND — Eight weeks after it first went into effect, a boil-water order is still in place for customers of the Prudence Island Water District (PIWD).

The R.I. Department of Health (DOH) issued the order in early October after a routine sample taken from the storage tank on Sept. 27 came back positive for total coliform and E. coli. Subsequent tests revealed levels of total coliform in the system, but not E. coli.

“As of today, Prudence is still under a boil-water order from the Department of Health,” Town Administrator Richard Rainer, Jr. told the Town Council Monday night.

Customers of the entire water district — as many as 700 residents — were impacted, according to DOH. Residents on private wells or on Prudence Park Water Coop are not affected. 

According to a notice on the PIWD website (www.pih2o.org), the presence of coliform is usually a sign there could be a problem with the storage or distribution system.

“E. coli are bacteria whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal wastes. Human pathogens in these wastes can cause short-term effects, such as diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms. They may pose a greater health risk for infants, young children, the elderly, and people with severely compromised immune systems,” the notice states.

No water should be consumed or used for washing dishes, brushing teeth or preparing food unless it’s boiled first for at least one minute, the district says. Alternatively, customers can use bottled water. More guidelines are available by calling the EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

Rep. Susan Donovan (Dist. 69-Portsmouth, Bristol) recently spoke to DOH officials on behalf of Prudence residents and received a response from Neil P. Hytinen, the department’s chief public affairs officer and legislative liaison.

“We have asked (PIWD) to install a (permanent) treatment system to treat the water and ordered them to hire another consultant to perform another assessment to figure out what the continuing bacteria issue is,” Mr. Hytinen stated in an e-mail, which was shared on the “Heard Around the Dock” Facebook page, which is popular with island residents.   

PIWD appealed, however, and requested a hearing with DOH, Mr. Hytinen said.

According to Mr. Rainer, PIWD representatives were scheduled to “conference”  with the Department of Health today, Nov. 30, to review the situation and hopefully agree on a way forward.”

Upon completion of another assessment of the water system that DOH ordered, “three more samples will have to be tested before the order is lifted,” Mr. Rainer said. 

Probable cause

The administrator outlined the probable cause of the contamination to the council.

“People who have winterized their cottages and homes — the snowbirds who had left — they’re using compressed air to back-flush their plumbing systems and they think that’s where the contamination came from,” he said. 

Robert Marshall, the district’s operations manager, “has been educating customers on the proper way to winterize their homes, and we will be talking in the future about the possibility of back-flow preventers,” Mr. Rainer said. 

(Winterization tips can be found on the PIWD website at www.pih2o.org.)

Since the boil-water water was first issued, the Town of Portsmouth has provided Prudence residents in need with approximately 1,500 gallons of drinking water, according to the administrator.

The Portsmouth Times sent an e-mailed request for comment from PIWD last week, but received no response.