Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SUNSET — Some Utahns across the state are experiencing water woes — from contaminated drinking water to flooding.
Residents of Sunset and Pleasant Grove should take caution before drinking water from their tap, as each city is flushing the water system to eliminate contaminants.
Sunset City over-fluoridation of drinking water
On Wednesday morning, staff members at Weber Basin Water Conservancy District-Central found a malfunction in the fluoride feed station, responsible for injecting fluoride into Sunset's main pipeline. The malfunction began the day before and caused too much fluoride to enter the system.
Many cities across the U.S. safely use small amounts of fluoride in water to help prevent tooth decay. Some people who drink water with fluoride levels over the EPA's maximum contaminant levels (4 milligrams per liter) over many years can develop bone disease, according to a statement from the city. Drinking water that contains half the limit of fluoride can cause children younger than 9 to develop brown staining or pitting on their still-forming adult teeth over a fairly short period of exposure.
According to a press release from the city, Sunset City staff members immediately began collecting samples and flushing the water system. Three of the eight samples tested were above the EPA's limit of maximum fluoride contaminant levels, at between 6-13 mg/L. After flushing the system, nearly all the samples showed safe fluoride levels. The city is continuing to flush and test the water in the affected area and will provide public results residents can find at sunset-ut.com.
The Utah Division of Drinking Water recommends Sunset residents and business owners flush every tap used for drinking water or bathing for 3 to 5 minutes, empty any water in appliance service lines, discard any ice and water used for pets and report any strange or unpleasant tastes, odors or discoloration post-flush to the city. And if anyone experiences negative health symptoms after drinking the water, they should contact their health care provider.
Flooding in Pleasant Grove compromised waterline
Meanwhile, heavy rains on Wednesday compromised one of Pleasant Grove's waterlines. According to a Facebook post from the city, some residents have experienced cloudy water, and the city cautions residents to not drink or use any contaminated water.
A team from the city will be fixing the pipeline and flushing the contaminated water out of the system during the night and hope to resolve the issue by morning.
Flooding at Skyline High shut school down early
The Granite School District released students at Skyline High School slightly earlier because of the heavy rainfall. The district tweeted that although the flooding at the school is a normal occurrence during intense rainy periods because of drainage issues and a leaky roof, there was unusual flooding of the auditorium, causing all after-school activities that would have been held there to be canceled for the day.
After hours of hard work, maintenance teams from Granite Fix It have managed to clean up the excess water, which means the school should be open and back to normal on Thursday morning.
