BALTIMORE — Baltimore has been dealing with contaminated water since Monday and in a press conference held by Baltimore City leaders and City health leaders, they provided updates on the situation.
Mayor Brandon Scott opens the presser by saying that the city is still taking the issue very seriously.
"The health and well-being of our residents remains a top priority," said Mayor Scott. "You have my word Baltimore, that we will get this issue resolved in a timely manner."
DPW has been distributing clean water to Baltimore residents impacted by contaminated water.
The distributions have been at these locations:
- 1401 W. Lafayette Ave., Harlem Park Elementary/Middle School
- 3301 Waterview Ave., Middle Branch Park
- 500 3rd Ave., Landsdowne Library
- 4501 Washington Blvd., Fire Station 5
- 4416 Wilkens Ave., Baltimore
RELATED: DPW to distribute more clean water to Baltimore residents impacted by contaminated water
"We want to be absolutely certain that our water supply is safe for consumption before we consider lifting the advisory," Mayor Scott adds.
Friday, Sept. 2, DPW took 19 samples from several locations in City Council District 9 and those tests came back positive for E. coli.
To date, DPW has received 25 results back and of those, only one of those tests continues to come back positive according to DPW Director Jason Mitchell. This positive test came from a police station at 1034 N. Carey Street.
DPW says they continue to see improvements across testing sites.
The cause of this contamination is still unknown.
Officials continue to rule out water treatment plants.
"We are looking at leaks, we're looking at valve assessments, anything that would disrupt our water system in that localized area," said Mitchell. "We're using our test locations to identify areas of serious concerns."
The next round of test results will take another 24 hours.
The mayor's office issued a statement earlier this week expressing regret, but Mayor Scott says this is simply about not responding fast enough.
"The regret is simply not being able to go through the process fast enough," said Mayor Scott. "We want to get that information out as quickly as possible, but when you have to follow regulations we're going to follow regulations."
The Office of Acute Communicable Diseases currently has two active cases of being sick, but it is too soon to say if they are directly linked to the water.
"We are subsequently investigating two cases currently, it is too soon to say it is directly linked to exposure from the water," said Health Department Director Dr. Letitia Dzirasa.
