EL TORO MARINE BASE : Residents Warned of Contaminated Water

Officials at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station are alerting residents in an off-base housing area that their tap water could be contaminated with the E. coli bacteria.

The base’s preventive medicine team discovered the bacteria Monday after residents at one home noticed a foul odor in their tap water.

Base spokeswoman Lt. Beth Newman said the contamination appears to be confined to that one home. She added that preliminary tests have shown no indication that the bacteria has spread to nearby houses.

“We are thinking it is just in that one home,” she said, noting that more definitive test results are expected today.

Health officials say the bacteria--found in the intestines and feces of humans and animals--produces a range of symptoms, from mild diarrhea lasting six to seven days to bloody diarrhea. It can also cause severe abdominal cramps, low-grade fever and, in some cases, vomiting or even death.

Ron Young, general manager of Irvine Ranch Water Authority, which provides water to the base and its housing areas, said when officials learned of the contamination, a series of tests were conducted to determine the cause, but no immediate answers were found.

“We checked our system from the supply side and we haven’t been able to find any other similar contamination,” he said. “It didn’t come from us and from what I understand theirs was limited in scope.

“Because it is a bacteria, you look for a source of contamination,” Young said. “You just don’t know what that is until you find it. But the first thing to test would be for a possible leak in the sewage system.”

In January, 1993, more than 500 illnesses and four deaths were attributed to the E. coli bacteria in Washington and Nevada after a fast-food chain served contaminated, undercooked hamburgers.