TILLAMOOK, Ore. – Residents in and around the City of Tillamook are being told to avoid drinking tap water due to a “potential contamination event.”
The Oceanside Water District said on July 18, a person’s vehicle was found near their district’s main reservoirs. When the owner of the vehicle was contacted by police, they indicated an attempt was made to contaminate the water supply.
Details regarding the nature of the attempt were not disclosed by investigators. Reports indicate those details have not yet been determined.
As a precaution, Oceanside Water District customers are being told to avoid drinking tap water until further notice. They add boiling the water will not reduce the amount of some types of contaminants, it may actually make the situation worse. Over-the-counter filters may also not be effective.
Officials said, “We at the Oceanside water district take threats like this very seriously and therefore have taken the reservoirs in question out of service and will be draining and flushing them prior to returning them to service. We will be flushing the distribution system to ensure all possibly contaminated water is removed. We are also sending out samples collected to try to determine what contaminate if any was introduced into our system.”
The water district said they hope to have the situation resolved within a few days.
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