TUMALO, OR -- Tumalo residents are once again cleared to drink their tap water.
A potentially harmful strain of E.coli was found in the drinking water during a routine monthly test, last week. Laidlaw Water District Manager Dale Peer tells KBND News, "We have four dedicated sampling sites throughout our system at the far extremes of our system in each direction, and we test each one each month on a rotation basis. One tested positive the first time on the routine, and then when we came back for our retest, we found two stations positive." Crews flushed and chlorinated the system, and after follow-up testing came back negative for the bacteria on Saturday, officials lifted the boil water order for the 130 impacted customers.