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Bedford’s Utilities Department is reassuring residents that the city's water is safe to drink after rumors spread online that the water supply was contaminated with hepatitis A.
Bedford UtilitiesBedford’s Utilities Department says the city’s water is safe to drink, despite a hepatitis A outbreak in Lawrence County.
The highly-contagious liver infection is spread through fecal-oral means, and Lawrence County has 45 cases.
That caused some residents to worry about whether drinking city water is safe, and rumors about contamination quickly spread online.
Bedford Utilities posted a statement on Facebook after misinformation spread online about the safety of city water.
The city’s utilities department says, in addition to treating water with chlorine and ultraviolet light, it tests water four times a week for indicators of E Coli.
“I think any of your municipal drinking water system or drinking water system in general that is disinfecting and doing the tests required by EPA and IDEM, if anything they err on the side of caution,” says Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Eric Flinn.
Flinn says there’s a very small chance, if any, that hepatitis A could contaminate the water supply.
Several employers in Lawrence County are taking extra precautions of their own to prevent the virus from spreading. The North Lawrence Community Schools superintendent is encouraging food services workers to get a hepatitis A vaccine. The school district will cover the costs for those who wish to do so.
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