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HYRUM, Utah (AP) -- Health officials say there's "a good possibility" the water system was the source of E. coli cases in Hyrum but they may never be able to say for sure.
The Bear River Health Department's investigation into the cases is winding down, and the agency's final report is expected to be issued soon.
Department officials have divided the five confirmed cases into two groups and eliminated the possibility of hamburger as the source in one of the groups.
Residents of Hyrum's High Valley subdivision account for three of the cases, and the bacteria was also detected in two Hyrum brothers who reportedly visited the subdivision for a preschool graduation party in May.
Lloyd Berentzen, director of the Health Department, said the brothers' cases are linked with that of Karen Pixton, 32, who tested positive for E. coli in June. He said the cases of 16-month-old Emily Sanders and 6-year-old Logan Stout are connected.
"The two (cases) are definitely connected, and the three are definitely connected, but they are not connected together," Berentzen said.
Hamburger has been ruled out in the cases of Pixton and the brothers, but not in the other two.
Several residents have speculated that the source of the E. coli is Hyrum's culinary water.
The city had installed a new water line recently underneath 300 North.
"I think it had something to do with that water," Pixton said. "Right now, the water's safe, but something happened when they were working on the line. I don't know if it was a break, a leak, a bad seal, but it's too coincidental for this many people to be sick in the same subdivision and not have water be the cause."
City officials contend that all tests that have been conducted show Hyrum's water has been free of contaminants.
"There's no indication that there was ever a problem with the construction and the new pipes," said Councilman Martin Felix. "There's so many sources that E. coli could come from. The testing that the Health Department has done shows that there's been no contamination in the city water."
However, Berentzen said the Health Department has not eliminated the culinary water as a possibility.
"In fact, that's probably a good possibility, but we've not said that it's from the water because we don't know," he said. "We're still pursuing some things to try to link these things further. We may never know the exact source of contamination."
Information from: The Herald Journal
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
