UPDATE 7pm
Logan council workers have been handing out free bottled waters to residents affected by the e.coli scare.
About 1000 people are been affected at Cedar Vale, Cedar Grove, Woodhill and Veresdale Scrub.
Logan issued an alert on Thursday, October 18 at 5.27pm asking residents to boil or use bottled water for drinking until further notice because e.coli had been found in the water.
Staffers set up an information booth and handed out cartons of free bottled water to residents who were affected and did a roaring trade through the afternoon.
They will return tomorrow, Saturday, from 8am to 6pm to the corner of the Mount Lindesay Highway and Cedar Vale Road, just south of Jimboomba from 8am to 6pm.
Cr Schwarz said all impacted homes were received information delivered to their letterboxes today.
“Thank you everyone for your understanding and working through this with us it is greatly appreciated,” she said.
“Logan water will continue to perform testing across areas.
“There are no new locations identified and no new locations are expected.”
Anyone with health concerns can phone 13 HEALTH (13 432584) or the council hotline on 3412 3421.
UPDATE 2pm:
WOODHILL SCHOOL NOT AFFECTED BY E.COLI: SCHWARZ
WOODHILL State School students should not be affected by e.coli in the water, says Logan councillor Trevina Schwarz.
And the council has reiterated calls for residents of Cedar Vale, Cedar Grove, Woodhill and Veresdale Scrub to boil drinking water or use bottled water.
Cr Schwarz said she had received queries about the health of school kids following the council’s alert to residents to boil all drinking water after e.coli was found in the water.
“The school is on a different reticulation system, so they should be fine,” she said.
Logan Water sent officers into the field to conduct tests though the day.
Cr Schwarz said results were still pending.
The council issued a release at 2pm which renewed its call for residents to continue to boil their tap water used for drinking or to use bottled water.
A spokesperson said the council was working closely with Queensland Health to resolve the situation first identified on Thursday, October 18.
“Residents have been informed via a letterbox drop and through social and traditional media channels,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said extensive network flushing and system chlorination is continuing. No clear source of E.coli contamination had been identified.
Anyone with health concerns can phone 13 HEALTH (13 432584) or the council hotline on 3412 3421.
INFO BOOTH FOR THOSE AFFECTED BY E.COLI
UPDATE 10.30am:
LOGAN Water will send officers to the corner of the Mount Lindesay Highway and Cedar Vale Road to answer questions from concerned residents about an e.coli outbreak from 2pm to 6pm.
About 1000 residents at Cedar Vale, Cedar Grove, Woodhill and Veresdale Scrub are said to be affected.
The staffers will take questions and distribute bottled water to residents.
Local councillor Trevina Schwarz said staffers would return Saturday and most likely Sunday too.
Cr Schwarz said the source of the outbreak remained a mystery though sometimes e. coli manifested after high rainfall weather events.
“In urban areas it is easier to manage. You just don’t use the water,” she said.
“In rural areas where people take trickle feed into their tanks it contaminates the tanks.”
Cr Schwarz has urged residents who can turn off town water supplies that feed into tanks to do so. She said tanks could be cleaned and disinfected with chlorine. Find information about this at Cr Schwarz’s Facebook page.
She said more tests were being undertaken at a variety of sites by Queensland Health and Logan Water officers today.
“Results take some time to come back because a culture has to grow,” she said.
Cr Schwarz said she had received reports of children who had had gastro over the past fortnights, but most came from outside the area.
Anyone with health concerns can phone 13 HEALTH (13 432584).
“It’s no writing these things on a Facebook page. For these things to be properly action you need to ring the Queensland Health number or the council hotline 3412 3421,” she said.
URGENT MEETING TO DISCUSS E.COLI: SCHWARZ
8am:
LOGAN City council officers, Logan Water and Queensland Health will meet via phone hook up at 8.30am to discuss how to deal with an e.coli scare affecting residents of Cedar Vale, Cedar Grove, Woodhill and Veresdale Scrub.
Logan City Council issued an alert last night, Thursday, October 18 a 5.27pm, warning e.coli had been detected and residents should boil water taken from town water until further notice.
Local councillor Trevina Schwarz later took to social media to deal with a flood of calls and messages from fearful residents.
About 1000 people from the suburbs of Cedar Vale, Cedar Grove, Woodhill and Veresdale Scrub are said to be affected.
Cr Schwarz released a list of affected streets. Households have been warned to boil drinking water until further notice and warned residents who took trickle feeds from the public water supply to their water tanks to turn feeds off.
She said arrangements had been made to provide bottled waters to two dialysis patients known to the council and urged others or those who knew them to contact the council.
Cr Schwarz said the 8.30am hook up between officers from the council, Logan Water and Queensland Health would discuss how to deal with the issue.
Results from further e.coli testing conducted yesterday would not be available until this morning at 10am.
“People were alarmed and I can understand their frustration. I share in that,” she said.
“Some were upset they saw it first on the news. When an issue like this comes up it’s important to get the message out. Some have already wondered whether this is the sort of information that can go through the disaster management line, whether alerts can be sent by way of local alert and that’s something we’ll be looking at,” she said.
Cr Schwarz said she did not learn herself of the matter until she received an alert at 5.27pm.
“I expected in the very least there might have been a follow up call and I’ll be raising that, but I suppose there was a panic to get it,” she said.
“We have to react quickly to these things. We have to err on the side of caution when it comes to the drinking water.
“There will be discussions about ongoing testing and in the meeting this morning we’ll talk about communications to affected residents and what that might look.
“There will be a letter box drop to people in the suburbs impacted and wider drop to those in suburbs not impacted. Those letters will be hand delivered.”
Cr Schwarz said how e.coli had found its way into the water supply at Cedar Vale, Cedar Grove, Woodhill and Veresdale Scrub remained a mystery.
“No one seems to know where it has come from,” she said.
Cr Schwarz said it remained unknown whether recent maintenance and disinfection works at Greenbank had impacted further down the line.
“These were part of a regular program of works and maintenance the council does on a regular basis and will continue to do,” she said.
Anyone with health concerns can phone 13 HEALTH (13 432584)
