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E. coli found in south San Luis Obispo County water supply

May 1, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

The water supply for five communities in San Luis Obispo County is contaminated with coliform bacteria, or E. coli, leading to a boil water order for cooking and drinking water.

After the contamination was detected in treated water from Lopez Lake, the county issued a boil water order for Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, Pismo Beach, Avila Beach, and Oceano. The bacteria was discovered during routine testing.

The water is contaminated through a transmission line. The county is estimating the ongoing water contamination will be corrected by Sunday.

Boil water order

  • Do not drink the water without boiling it first.
  • Boil all water for one minute.
  • Let water cool before drinking.
  • Use boiled or bottled water for drinking, brushing teeth, and food preparation.
  • Boiling water kills bacteria and other organisms in the water.

If you are unable to boil your water:

  • For clear water, use eight drops (1/8 teaspoon) of household unscented liquid bleach for one gallon of water.
  • For cloudy water, filter through a clean cloth and use 16 drops (1/4 teaspoon) of bleach for 1 gallon of water.
  • Mix well.
  • Allow to stand for 30 minutes before using.
  • Water may taste or smell like chlorine. This means disinfection has occurred.

Symptoms caused by drinking contaminated water may include stomach cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting. Symptoms generally begin two to four days after drinking the contaminated water.

Most people will recover at home without medical care but, in some cases, illness can be severe and will require medical treatment. Young children and older adults are more at risk of severe illness.

Seek medical care right away if you experience any of these more severe symptoms:

  • Diarrhea or vomiting more than two days
  • Bloody stool or bloody urine
  • Fever higher than 102°F
  • Signs of dehydration such as little or no peeing, having very dark pee, being very thirsty, having a dry mouth or throat, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and crying without tears
  • Unexplained bruising or rash with tiny red spots
  • Feeling extremely tired or not alert

If you have mild symptoms and are recovering at home, it is important to stay well-hydrated.

 


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And they want to raise our water rates over the next 5 years. They can’t even provide us with safe, clean drinking water.


24

I know I’m going to be relentlessly down voted for this comment, but the reality is that 99% of the time, we get potable water and flush away our waste without any problems at all. Every system devised by human beings will have a certain failure rate. Compared to most of the rest of the world, the U.S. is light years ahead in the safety and reliability of the public water supply. Clearly, this a failure somewhere that needs to be identified and corrected. I am confident it will be. The routine sampling is what brought it to everyone’s attention and the boil water order is to protect everyone. It’s a giant pain in the ass, yes. But to say “[t]hey can’t even provide us with safe, clean drinking water” is counterfactual. And the rate increases, which I don’t like either, are coming because it turns out that replacing miles of piping systems is expensive. Who knew? If they didn’t spend the money to upgrade systems, people would be b*tching about the system being unreliable. There’s always room for improvement, but there’s also always room for introspection and dispassionate analysis. Peace.


34

What this has really shown is that people are highly unprepared for emergencies. In other states, boil notices (unfortunately) occur fairly regularly. The Five Cities haven’t had a boil notice in decades. Sign up for Reverse 9-1-1, stock up on supplies, and be thankful that agencies test weekly and caught it. As for rates, it likely falls under Prop 218, and people can protest it. Send your letter in and talk to your neighbors. Take action.


22