South Gate Water Warning May End

South Gate residents will learn today whether a citywide advisory to boil drinking water has been lifted after possible E. coli contamination was discovered Monday in the municipal water supply.

City spokesman Bryan Cook said late Tuesday that all mains would be flushed overnight and that the water supply would be chlorinated in preparation for testing today by the state Department of Health Services.

The advisory was issued because of an inconclusive test result showing the possible presence of E. coli in one of 30 wells and taps routinely tested by the city. “We decided to err on the site of caution,” Cook said.

E. coli bacteria are present in human and animal waste. Officials had not determined how the microbe might have entered the city’s water supply, nearly all of which is from groundwater.