Some Scottsdale and Paradise Valley residents say they never received any notice Wednesday that they shouldn’t be drinking their tap water, which may be contaminated with a suspected cancer-causing chemical.

View Congressman Harry Mitchell's letters to Environmental Protection Agency

GRAPHIC: View map of the area affected by the toxic tap water

TCE scare spurs utility to promote bottled water

Scottsdale TCE scare limited to private supply

Residents lined up at two locations Thursday to pick up gallons of free bottled water after private utility Arizona American Water Co. announced water containing elevated levels of trichloroethylene, or TCE, potentially entered drinking water from its Miller Road Treatment Facility.

The company serves nearly 5,000 customers in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.

Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., the Arizona Corporation Commission and Paradise Valley town officials are demanding answers, as well. Meanwhile, many businesses and restaurants are feeling the effects of having to use bottled water.

'WE APOLOGIZE’

Todd Walker, Arizona American spokesman, acknowledged the company’s reverse 911 notification system, which sends automated alert messages to customers, only reaches about 65 percent of those households.

“We apologize that we were unable to reach every single customer individually,” Walker said. “We recognized that it was an imperfect system going into it. No system is able to contact 100 percent of the people 100 percent of the time.”

The company is urging customers to continue using bottled water until 5 p.m. today.

Wednesday’s alert was the first time the company has used the notification system in Arizona, and only the second time in the Western U.S., Walker said. The utility relies on news releases to disseminate alerts to the rest of its customers, he said. The company has plans to improve the notification system, however, he said.

But Scottsdale resident Bill Gabbert, an Arizona American customer, called the notification system a total farce. Neither he nor any neighbors he spoke with received any warning, Gabbert said.

“My wife and I were drinking coffee, making tea all through yesterday,” he said. “I think it’s lousy.”

Tom Barrett, a Paradise Valley resident, said he also didn’t receive any alert.

“We didn’t know any of this was taking place,” Barrett said. “What if it had been something catastrophic?”

Walker said preliminary results of the company’s tests indicate there is evidence of elevated levels of TCE, although it’s still unclear how much may have entered the system.

The source of the potential contamination, he said, was a mechanical failure at the company’s facility, at Miller Road and McDonald Drive, which pumps TCE-tainted groundwater from the Indian Bend Wash Superfund site, removes the chemical, and then blends the treated water into the company’s water supply.

Early Wednesday morning, a plant technician discovered a piece of equipment had failed, allowing tainted water to continue to be processed for some time overnight. The system that was supposed to alert workers of an equipment breakdown failed, Walker said.

“It should have triggered an alarm and shut down,” he said. “It’s supposed to be automated to send out an alert.”

It’s the second time in about three months the company has had problems with excess TCE potentially entering drinking water from the Miller Road plant. The federal Environmental Protection Agency in mid-November announced water containing 9.2 parts per billion of TCE had been introduced into American Water’s drinking water supply after workers at the plant shut down one of the plant’s towers for inspection and shifted operations to a third, unused tower. The federal maximum for TCE in drinking water is 5 parts per billion.

Arizona American officials at the time said the tainted water was blended with TCE-free water, lowering TCE concentrations to within federal mandates.

The company and the EPA both came under fire for taking about a month to notify the public after discovering the problem. EPA officials attributed the delay to equipment problems at the lab testing the water samples.

'WE ARE CONCERNED’

Jim Bacon, Paradise Valley town manager, said town officials plan to meet with senior Arizona American management about the company’s procedures for alerting the public.

“We are concerned about the process by which they notify customers,” Bacon said.

Paradise Valley Town Hall serves as one of the two sites where customers can pick up bottled water. Water fountains inside the town hall featured “out of service” signs Thursday, while the entire town government complex temporarily switched to bottled water.

Arizona American representatives said they gave away thousands of bottles over the course of the day.

In response to the latest TCE incident, Rep. Mitchell fired off a letter to the EPA, taking the agency to task for its assurances last November that steps would be taken to prevent a recurrence.

“I am seriously concerned about the continued failure to protect against the emission of trichloroethylene (TCE), a suspected cancer causing chemical, into the drinking water that serves portions of Scottsdale,” Mitchell wrote.

The Arizona Corporation Commission, the state agency overseeing public utilities, wrote to Arizona American asking for an explanation of how the potential contamination occurred.

“I would like Arizona-American to fully explain the cause of the malfunction at the treatment facility, as well as what steps Arizona-American is taking to ensure that contamination of this nature, from this treatment facility, will not happen again,” wrote Commissioner Kris Mayes.

Some local businesses, like Houston’s restaurant, 6113 N. Scottsdale Road, attempted to make due with bottled water. Carrie Tovar, Houston’s service manager, said the restaurant spent hundreds of dollars buying bottled water at the grocery store.

Walker said Arizona American is continuing its investigation to discover the extent and severity of the potential contamination.

Customers of Scottsdale’s municipal water system are unaffected.

Arizona American Water Co. is making bottled water available free of charge to all customers at 6215 N. Cattle Track Road in Scottsdale and at the Paradise Valley Town Hall, 6401 E. Lincoln Dr. The company is recommending that customers use bottled water for drinking and for food preparation until at least 5 p.m. Friday.

For more information, contact Arizona American Water Co. at (888) 237-1333 or www.amwater.com.