By Scott Halasz
XENIA — Despite issuing a boil order late last week, City of Xenia officials said Monday they didn’t think the drinking water was ever contaminated in the advisory areas.
Xenia Public Service Superintendent Ed Quinlan said he felt “very confident” no bacteria made it into the city’s water supply in areas south and west of US Route 35.
The boil order was issued around 4 p.m. Friday after a sample tested positive for e coli. The order was lifted approximately 24 hours later.
Quinlan said one of the city’s many sample sites sits inside a building and the building itself was contaminated.
“It turns our it really was not in our system,” Quinlan said. “(But) we didn’t feel comfortable with it, we issued the boil order just to be sure no one got sick.”
The sample was taken Thursday after a Tuesday test showed fecal coliform in the water.
“It’s an indicator you better look further,” Quinlan said.
This is just the second time the city has been under a boil order in the nearly 29 years Quinlan has worked for the city.
“We have a very clean, very well run system,” Quinlan said. “We have guys that are trained. We have multiple guys with state licensing.”
The affected areas included New Arrowhead, Windsor Park, Reserve of Xenia, Sterling Green and Villages of Sterling Green.
