Edwards Base Residents Told to Avoid Murky Water : Antelope Valley: Well failure is suspected of discoloring the supply. Bottled water is delivered to schools.

Many of the more than 20,000 workers and inhabitants of Edwards Air Force Base have been told not to drink the tap water there after an apparent ground well failure sent murky and sandy water throughout much of the facility’s system, base officials said Thursday.

Since the brownish tap water appeared early Wednesday, officials at the base have had a run on bottled water at the commissary. Jugs of clean water have been delivered to several schools on base, water tanks have been put out for residents and at least one hospital operation was canceled, a spokesman said.

Air Force officials said they believe sand from a failed well discolored the water. Preliminary tests showed the problem is not the result of chemical or bacteria contamination. However, they said the warning against drinking tap water in affected areas would remain at least through this afternoon as a precaution.

“The base commissary was ordering bottled water like there’s no tomorrow,” said Lt. Col. John Shirtz, the base’s director of bioengineering programs. Residents snapped up 15 pallets of bottled water in several hours Wednesday, forcing the commissary to hurriedly order more, he said.

Base officials said the brownish tap water could be used safely for bathing or washing dishes, and as clear water from two other wells was pumped into the system Thursday, the discoloration diminished.

Edwards, located in the Mojave Desert about 90 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, receives its entire water supply from about 13 ground wells. Shirtz said efforts were still under way Thursday to determine what went wrong with the suspect well.

Initial test results Thursday of water samples taken the day before showed no chemical or bacteria contamination, Shirtz said.

On Wednesday, the advisory to avoid drinking tap water went out to the entire base, about 15,700 military and civilian workers and nearly 6,500 military family members who live there. But by the end of the day, that was narrowed as base officials discovered some areas had not been affected.

As of Thursday, base officials said the discolored water apparently had gone to virtually all of the housing on base--home to about 8,000 people--and numerous offices and facilities, including the schools, commissary, clubs, base hospital and even the base’s B-2 bomber test facility.