Sandy City Lifts All Non-Drink Water Orders After Contamination

SANDY CITY, Utah – Sandy City has now lifted their no drink order in all impacted zones, but that doesn’t mean concerns for residents are over.

Extremely high levels of copper and lead in drinking water sickened a 3-month-old baby and others after an equipment problem caused too much fluoride to be put into the system. That made the water acidic which caused pipes in some homes to leech into their drinking water.

Right now, Sandy City Mayor Kurt Brandburn is asking for volunteers to help collect and test samples from 2,800 homes affected to reassure residents that their drinking water is safe.

In a press conference Sunday, he said he was led to believe this was a controlled, localized incident.

It wasn’t until Friday, February 15th he knew of the extent of the impact.

Sandy City Public Utilities Director Tom Ward says complaints started coming into the city Thursday, February 7th.

A formal notification about the excess fluoride was made to the state Friday, February 8th.

During the press conference, it was evident there had been communications issues between state and city officials.

It wasn’t until this Friday, one week later, when shocking test results were completed that the state officials say they stepped in to ensure Sandy’s message went out loud and clear to citizens.

“The highest level of lead that we have seen is 394 micrograms per liter. The action level for lead is 15. The highest level of copper that we saw during this event was 28,800 micrograms per liter, The action level for that is 1,300 micrograms per liter,” said Division of Drinking water director Marie Owens.

Owens says levels could have been even higher. They won’t be able to know how many homes were impacted during the fluoride problem because more tests weren’t taken.

“We would consider those results to be significantly dangerous,” said Owens.

 The state is investigating if the city properly notified the public about the contamination, along with the exceeding fluoride levels.

“We just haven’t gotten that information and we’re hungry for it,” said Jodi Monaco, a Sandy resident.

Sandy City Public Utilities Director Tom Ward believes they met the letter of the law, but they’re currently checking documentation.

He said employees did knock on doors last week, but personal contact may not have been made. “They might have had a flyer on their door in my view that’s not a notification per se when we’re talking about the extremely high levels of fluoride that we had, so I’m going to own that,” said Ward.

The city admits they could have done more and sooner.

And now beyond their health, residents have questions about their homes too, “What condition are my pipes in right now? I just want to know. All of us just want to know,” said Monaco.

Sandy City will holding a town hall Monday to address ongoing concerns from 7-9 PM at the theater of Mount Jordan Middle School.

Folks who want to volunteer to help collect samples from homes are asked to meet at Sandy City Hall Monday from 8 to 10 a.m. for a short training on water sample collection before they get to work.