HUNTINGTON BEACH

State health officials have notified a small number of residents that water in their private well is contaminated.

A group of homeowners and tenants making up the Ocean View Mutual Water Co. were advised to boil their water after a routine water quality test revealed the presence of a harmful bacteria, a notice dated Aug. 6 shows.

City officials stressed that the vast majority of residents continue to receive safe drinking water from the city’s supply and not from the company’s private well, which serves 11 homes and one six-unit apartment complex along A and B streets.

Although no illnesses have been reported, the contamination poses a “small” health risk for those with weak immune systems, such as the elderly, the sick and the very young, said Nabil Saba, associate sanitary engineer for the state Department of Health Services.