SUGAR GROVE, VA — The Rye Valley Water Authority has declared an 18-month boil-water order for 550 households due to high levels of coliform bacteria in its water system, according to a July 13 Bristol Herald Courier article.

What has some residents in this southwest Virginia community concerned is that the water authority first detected coliform bacteria in its raw water a year ago, but is just now informing them.

Robert Parker, Southwest Virginia spokesman for the Virginia Department of Health, said the health department followed protocol.

Richard Puckett, a field director for the Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water, said the health department performed significant testing because the system had no history of bacterial problems, and there had been no reported illnesses.

Resident Michael Ward said at a recent public meeting that he had eight bouts of diarrhea last year. “Ward was expressing their [his neighbors’] commonly held fear — that their drinking water had been making them sick for months,” the article said.

The authority, which draws its water from an underground spring, now has 18 months to install a treatment system to address the problem, the article said.

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