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SARATOGA SPRINGS -- A boil order remains in effect for thousands of residents of Saratoga Springs. The city issued the order Thursday night, after tests revealed bacteria in the water system.
The Northern half of the city, everyone north of 400 South, has been put on the boil order. Saratoga residents to the south of 400 South, are on another system which is not contaminated.
Now, those who thought they've had the flu have discovered it all has to do with the water they've been drinking. In Harvest Hills, residents are beginning to recover from several days of the stomach illnesses, including vomiting and diarrhea.
Stacy Fowles lives in the Harvest Hills subdivision and says she started getting flu-like symptoms last Friday.
"It started with the worst body aches I've ever felt," Fowles says. "I didn't get off the couch until Tuesday."
"When I woke up yesterday morning, it was not fun, not at all," says Mike Snyder.
Leigh Eagleston is comforting her 3-year-old daughter, the last in the family of eight to get sick. For days, the neighborhood all believed a flu bug was going around.
"You would think you were done with it, certain kids would pull out of it, and you'd think at least he's done, and four days later he's got it again. It's been a little bit of a mystery," Eagleston says.
That mystery was solved Thursday night when an order was issued by Saratoga Springs for residents to boil drinking water for 1 minute prior to consumption.
"I was trying all along to hydrate the kids: ‘Drink up. We've got to get you hydrated.' And then to hear that was the cause," Eagleston says.
"The Utah County Health Department looked at some data from local patients and identified a bacteria known as campylobacter, but that's the only confirmation we have of any bacteria," says Saratoga Springs City Manager Ken Leetham.
Two schools are located in the boil order area. The Alpine School District says sack lunches were given to the kids at the elementary school, while food was brought in to West Lake High School. All the drinking fountains are taped off and students are being given bottled water to drink.
Businesses that prepare or serve food are also getting strict instructions on how to operate. All soda fountains and ice machines must be turned off and emptied. All water used inside the food establishment must be boiled or shipped in from a safe source.
The city draws from five wells for the culinary water and is now looking at how it became contaminated.
"It's really hard to say, at this point. We hope to be able to isolate a cause in the next few days, but that investigation will take awhile," Leetham says.
The city has been flushing the water system with chlorine to kill any remaining bacteria. Administrators sent new water samples for testing Friday morning. Those results won't be back until Sunday night, so the boil order will remain in effect at least through the weekend. -----
Story compiled with contributions from Sam Penrod and Randall Jeppesen.
