Portland boil water order

Portland, OREGON -A boil water order was issued for the entire city of Portland on Friday.

In three separate repeat water samples from May 20 to May 23, the presence of total coliform and E. coli was confirmed in routine drinking water.

Until further notice, all Portland Water Bureau customers and those in the affected areas should boil all tap water used for drinking, food prep, tooth brushing and ice for at least one minute.

Any ice or beverages prepared with unboiled tap water on or after May 20 should be thrown out.

The water samples that tested positive for bacteria were collected at Mt. Tabor Reservoirs 1 and 5, as well as the Southeast 2nd Avenue and Salmon Street water sampling station.

Those reservoirs have been taken offline.

Along with Portland Water Bureau customers, other local water providers also fall under the boil water notice. They are: Burlington Water District, City of Gresham (North of I-84), Lake Grove Water
District, Lorna Portland Water, Palatine Hill Water District, Rockwood Water District, Tigard Water Service Area (including Durham, King City and Bull
Mountain), Valley View Water District and West Slope Water District.

"While we believe at this time that the potential health risk is relatively small, we take any contamination seriously and are taking every
precaution to protect public health," said Portland Water Bureau Administrator David Shaff.

Customers will be notified when they no longer have to boil their water after investigators determine the water system is clean of contamination through surveillance sampling.

Contamination can occur when there is a loss of water pressure, a pipe breaks or conditions expose
drinking water to outside elements.

The Portland Water Bureau is performing a full investigation to
identify the cause of the contamination, but workers said it is not always possible to make an
exact determination.