Residents in the San Tan Valley are telling ABC15 there is an E.coli scare for homes and businesses in that area.
District officials are asking parents to send bottled water with their kids to school Wednesday.
The schools affected are: Circle Cross Ranch, Copper Basin, Magma Ranch, Poston Butte, Skyline Ranch and Walker Butte.
Concerned residents are scrambling to buy water at local grocery stores.
The Trejo family said their Little League game was canceled because of the scare. Officials didn't want the kids to drink out of the water fountains.
The Florence Unified School District sent the following email to parents Tuesday night:
After receiving notice that E. coli bacteria had been found in samples of water in the San Tan Valley area, our staff took immediate precautionary measures to protect students and athletic teams who were still practicing or playing at the schools.
We will have school for a half day as planned tomorrow (Wednesday) but we will be prepared with bottled water, hand washing stations and hand sanitizer in order to protect students and staff from potential contamination. If you are also able to send bottled water to school with your child tomorrow, we would appreciate the assistance.
Johnson Utilities has clarified this evening that of the 75 follow-up samples collected, only one tested positive, and that was for total coliform bacteria, rather than E. coli. While total coliform is not as serious as E. coli, it can still cause gastrointestinal discomfort and, as always, we prefer to err on the side of caution whenever any doubt exists.
We are in direct communication with Johnson Utilities and they will inform us as they receive the results of additional testing.
We attempted to reach Johnson Utilities which operates water in the area, but they did not return our phone calls.
BigJ posted at 7:55 am on Wed, Aug 22, 2012.
I wonder why people are just hearing about the Ecoli when Johnson Utilitites new about it on August 16th... Hmm Strange. One week later, glad Johnson utilities did such a great job with such a big issue!!
AJ posted at 10:39 am on Wed, Aug 22, 2012.
This is a perfect reason why we should create our own town so that we can use our tax revenues from our citizens to have our own Police, Fire, Utilities, Parks, Library and other amenities instead of sending our tax dollars to Florence. Its time to grow, folks!
Aqua Science posted at 1:45 pm on Wed, Aug 22, 2012.
Hello San Tan Valley residents! This is Jeff Nolan with Aqua Science. We have received many calls about the E coli situation going on in your area and wanted to inform you on how to address this. By adding an ultraviolet bulb onto an existing Reverse Osmosis drinking water system, this will kill bacteria and E-Coli in the water. Please check out our website at http://www.aquascienceaz.com/UV-Housing-and-Bulb_8_4226_8591.html for more information and give me a call with any questions (480-729-6781). Thanks, Jeff Nolan
OliveMill posted at 5:03 pm on Wed, Aug 22, 2012.
The Queen Creek Olive Mill will be opening early tomorrow (Thurs, 8/23) at 7am for all our friends in the Queen Creek/San Tan Valley area who are being affected by the Johnson Utilities E. coli water contamination issue. Superstition Coffee and our full breakfast menu will be available to help you start the day off right! Our water comes from the Town of Queen Creek, so our water is safe!