Yountville Veterans Home staff finds no sign of bacteria that prompted water boil notice

There has been no sign of the E. coli bacteria that prompted a two-day precautionary water boil notice across Yountville in July, a Yountville Veterans Home official told the Yountville Town Council on Tuesday.

In fact, Joshua Kiser, Yountville Veterans Home information officer, said water plant supervisors aren’t sure whether the test results that first found E. coli were accurate following multiple resamples.

“Multiple rounds of resampling resulted in zero indication of coliforms or water quality issues at all,” he said. “There were also no known events or cross connections that could have resulted in a positive coliform test.”

There were also no reports of illness during the water boil period, Kiser said.

Water samples, he added, are still actively being taken throughout the Yountville water system to monitor for E. coli.

The Veterans Home was notified July 20 that during normal water testing, samples provided by the Rector Reservoir — Yountville’s primary source of water — resulted in a positive E. coli notification, Kiser said.

The treatment facility for the reservoir is owned and operated by the California Department of Veterans Affairs, and the town purchases the treated water. All parties that receive water from the reservoir were also notified of the positive test on July 20, Kiser said.

That positive test prompted the State Water Resources Control Board and the Napa County Health Department to implement the boil-water notice throughout the town.

During that time, bottled water was provided to all Veterans Home residents and staff, and modifications were made in food services, Kiser said.

The town announced it was safe to drink tap water two days later, July 22, after the State Water Resources Control Board and other agencies conducted tests.

Kiser added that all public water systems are required to test regularly, and there will occasionally be positive samples.

Prior to this incident, he said, there had not been any boil-water notices as a result of a positive E. coli test issued at the home in more than five years.