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Ed Yeates ReportingA three and a half year old boy from Clinton, Utah remains in very serious condition tonight, still trying to fight off the deadly effects of a potent strain of E coli bacteria. He and his sister were infected most likely from drinking secondary water used for irrigation.
Konnor Jeppsen is a very sick boy tonight. Though doctors at Primary Children’s Hospital have moved him out of intensive care, his prognosis is still touch and go.
Konnor and his older sister, Korrisa, were playing in sprinkler water at their home about two weeks ago. They ended up doing what residents are warned NOT to do with secondary untreated irrigation water.
Brandon Jeppsen, Father: "Turn your back for a few minutes and we went out and they had started filling up some buckets and my daughter told us they had been drinking out of those buckets."
Both kids got sick, but Konnor ended up in intensive care at Primary Children's Hospital.
Hot, dry weather has produced an ideal environment in secondary water reservoirs in Davis and Weber Counties for all kinds of bacteria and pathogens to grow. Though the water make look clear and clean coming out of sprinkling systems, it is not and should NOT be used for anything but irrigation.
The Davis County health department is trying to get the word out to the public through city agencies again warning residents that secondary water is not for recreation. It is not drinking water.
Jerry Thompson, Davis County Health Dept.: “The number of pathogens in the water increases. Plus the exposure increases because there are more people out of doors and there’s more people in the water trying to cool off.”
Don't drink the water. Don't even play in it. In fact, the health department advises residents NOT to fill wading pools with sprinkler water. Use culinary water from the house tap. Konnor's father tonight is telling his neighbors to heed the advice.
E coli is not the only villain in the water. Parasites breed there too. All of them have the potential of making you very sick.
