Water Authority: Tests Show Fungus Incident Was Isolated
By Susan Montoya Bryan/
The Associated Press
Albuquerque's water authority seemed to have a brilliant marketing plan: Hand out nearly 1 million bottles of cleaned river water — with custom labels — to give people a taste of what will soon be the main water source for much of New Mexico's most populous county.
Everything was going according to plan until "foreign matter" was spotted in several bottles.
The bottled water campaign came to a screeching halt and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority has been working for the past month to undo the damage.
"There has been some concern but most people have understood that it was likely a problem with the bottling operation rather than the water itself," said David Morris, a spokesman for the water authority.
The authority announced Wednesday that lab tests show no fungal contamination of water sampled at the authority's pilot treatment plant, and that an independent review by a university professor found the plant's disinfection systems exceed regulatory requirements and produce safe drinking water.
John Stomp, the authority's water resources manager, said the investigation confirms that contamination of the bottled water happened after it left the treatment plant.
"The problem with the bottled water is very unfortunate, and we deeply regret that it happened," he said. "The good news is that our pilot plant and our treatment process were not the source of the problem and that our customers need not worry about the safety of their drinking water."
The bottling company, Albuquerque-based QS Inc., maintains that because of its extensive quality control systems, the bottled water left its facility meeting drinking water standards.
Since the source of the contamination has yet to be determined, the city of Albuquerque continues to investigate.
The trouble began in January when a fungus known as black yeast was discovered in about seven bottles of water being used to promote the San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project, the future water source for the Albuquerque area.
State health officials have said the fungi in question didn't pose a health risk, but the idea of floating debris in water that would soon be flowing from the city's taps was too much for some.
Bloggers described the water as everything from "bad news" to "el stinko" and used the public relations backfire to criticize the water authority and the mayor.
Morris acknowledged more public education needs to be done and that it might be a bit more difficult "now that we don't have the bottled water as an arrow in our quiver."
Still, he hopes the message that the water is safe resonates with residents despite the fungus scare.
"It will be interesting to see how that turns out," he said.
In defense of the water authority, Morris noted that out of the nearly 1 million bottles handed out to church groups, schools and others, officials received "far more thank yous and compliments on the water than we ever received complaints about it."
With the cleaned river water set to start flowing to city taps later this year, the authority has given up on resurrecting the bottled water campaign so it can focus on other aspects of the project.
The drinking water project is vital to the city's future.
Right now, its drinking water comes from an aquifer that was once thought to be infinite. But when city officials learned decades ago that the aquifer's lifespan was limited, they began planning for the diversion of water from the San Juan and Chama rivers in the north to the Rio Grande, which travels through the heart of the city.
Those plans have culminated with a series of diversion dams, channels and a state-of-the-art treatment plant in Albuquerque.
The city has rights to 48,200 acre-feet of San Juan-Chama water per year. An acre-foot, about 326,000 gallons, can meet the annual water needs of one to two U.S. households.
Once the water is diverted from the Rio Grande, it will be purified at the plant by removing particulate matter, including turbidity, sediment and bacterial and microbial contaminants. The cleaned water will then be blended with groundwater to supplement drinking water supplies.
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On the Net:
Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority: http://www.abcwua.org/
San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project: http://www.abcwua.org/content/view/31/24/
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