A small area of Koreatown was under instructions to boil water from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power due to an E. coli outbreak. Water is now safe for drinking, washing and food preparation.
The area was a two-block radius near 6th and Normandy, according to the LADWP’s notice. LADWP determined the contamination was from a meter that’s not being used for residential customers.
Officials had urged impacted residents to use only bottled or boiled tap water for drinking and food preparation until further notice.
KNX News’ Craig Fiegener spoke to Councilmember Heather Hutt, who said LADWP’s water test this morning revealed no E. coli in the water source.
Activities from brushing your teeth to making ice cubes needed boiled water. This made residents concerned about getting sick, not even wanting to shower with the infected water.
“We actually didn't find out until the late afternoon, so yesterday my partner had drunk the faucet water, and I showered in the faucet water, and then we got the notice that we weren't supposed to do that,” one resident told KNX News’ Jon Baird.
Another impacted resident was annoyed at the delay this order caused to his day-to-day.
“You have to wake up early, boil your water just to brush your teeth,” he said. “Now I have to boil my water, let it cool down, and it's going to add an hour or so to everything that I do.”
This impacted around 460 residents and some restaurants and a strip mall too, which had been forced to close.
Crews from LADWP were handing out bottled water today to residents in the affected area.
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