E. coli found in reservoir forces Yountville residents to boil water

YOUNTVILLE — A North Bay town is dealing with another case of E. coli in its water system.

A mandatory boil water order was issued after samples from a treatment plant at the Veterans Home of California tested positive for E. coli earlier Friday. The treatment plant handles water that comes from Rector Reservoir, Yountville’s primary water source located east of Silverado Trail.

It is the second time this year that the town has faced a boil order for its water after a precautionary order was issued for three days in July.

“On my way to work today, I got a call from my boss about the notice to boil water,” said a Yountville resident who gave her name as Natalie.

That meant steering clear of the tap water like many other businesses in town.

Local restaurants bought out the ice at a Yountville market as bottled water flew off store shelves. One thing did help to make Natalie’s job a little easier.

“We have huge filter system on our espresso machines so luckily that helped us out there,” she explained.

Rector Reservoir is managed by the California Department of Veteran Affairs. A spokesperson with CalVet sent a statement which read: “The lab results from this week’s test were positive for E. coli throughout the entire line, from Rector to the homes. This is an unusual result. Nevertheless, a boil water notice has been issued for maximum safety. The residents of the veterans home and the town of Yountville have been notified.”

Loretta lives at the veterans home and got the notice earlier in the day. “They had this notice up there to boil your water and I said ‘Why?’ ‘Well we think we have E. coli,'” she said.

The order has impacted 838 customers but also the roughly one thousand residents who live at the veterans home. At this point, there’s very little information on the source of contamination. 

“I feel like it’s happened in the past and when it happened it was concerning then and it’s still concerning now,” Natalie said.

More samples were collected on Friday with more to be taken on Saturday. If those test results are negative, the boil notice could be lifted as soon as Monday.

More information on what to do when a boil water advisory is in effect can be found at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.  

Bay City News contributed to this report