Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that Teasdale was not affected by water contamination as previously reported.
TORREY, Wayne County — A state of emergency has been declared for a small town in Wayne County dealing with water contamination issues for nearly a week, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday.
According to the declaration, a break in Torrey’s main waterline began around Thursday near the spring that feeds into the town’s water system.
The break in the line caused a stoppage of water to storage tanks to the town’s drinking water system and the system is out of water.
The DEQ also tweeted Tuesday that the small town of Teasdale, which is located roughly 5 miles southwest of Torrey, was also affected by water contamination.
"We’re only about 5 miles apart but our water systems but our water systems are completely separate from completely different springs on completely different mountains," he said.
Torrey officials issued an advisory Saturday because of bacterial contamination of the town’s water supply.
Residents were asked to boil any water needed for drinking purposes until the problem is resolved.
The town added that water from Loa and Fremont was going to be trucked up to the top of the system to speed up the repair process and that all restaurants have been ordered closed by a state health inspector.
Convenience stores were being allowed to sell packaged goods.

Report identifies ways to reduce water contamination from oil and gas development in Texas.
A new report from the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) is shedding more light on what we know and don’t know about the potential health and environmental impacts caused by oil and gas development in Texas.
In fact, according to the report, spilling or leaking wastewater and other substances is the most likely pathway for surface water contamination from oil and gas development in Texas.
Yet Texas is the only major state that doesn’t require companies to report their produced water spills.
Managing the strain on freshwater, without causing more environmental problems TAMEST also looks at the way industry uses water more generally.
Water scarcity is driving debate about whether or not companies should drill wells with brackish (salty) water, or use their own wastewater, rather than freshwater.
This practice could help alleviate water scarcity concerns.
However, as TAMEST notes, the use of these alternative resources “increases the potential for spills or leaks that could lead to further environmental impacts.” Therefore, while TAMEST notes that increased use of fresh water alternatives for oil and gas operations is desirable, the authors also recommend expanded research to understand the potential environmental trade-offs of increasing this practice.
According to the report, “In Texas, both economics and risk considerations dictate that much of the produced water will continue to be injected in deep wells or used as fracturing fluid to minimize impacts on other water sources.” The TAMEST report goes further, saying there are “potential negative impacts of trace contaminants in produced water that might limit their beneficial use” outside the oilfield.
There’s no doubt that water management in the oilfield can and should be improved.

Eighth Major Report Finds Water Contamination From Fracking ‘Has Not Been Observed’.
The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) released its study Monday, concluding that contamination of drinking water from fracking “has not been observed in Texas.” The report noted that fracking is “highly unlikely” to contaminate drinking water aquifers, which are often far away from where the oil or natural gas is extracted.
“This study is yet another indication that the campaign to shut down fracking is based on politics, not science,” Steve Everley, spokesman, Texans for Natural Gas, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“If fracking were a credible risk to groundwater, we would know about it in Texas, which produces more oil and natural gas than any other state.
The fact that such an incident hasn’t been observed here is further confirmation that fracking is safe and well-regulated,” Everley said.
The report also noted that fracking has helped Texas’s economy and reduced energy-related emissions.
TAMEST’s study also notes that fracking has had other beneficial impacts on Texas, including making the state’s cleaner and reviving local economies.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a five-year study in 2016 that found fracking was not causing widespread groundwater contamination.
“We haven’t seen anything to show that wells have been contaminated by fracking.” A Duke University study published earlier this month and funded by the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) came to the same conclusions as TAMEST.
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Saipan water contaminated with same chemical found on Guam.
The same chemical contaminant that last year forced the Guam Waterworks Authority to shut down some of its water wells on Guam has also been found in the water supply on Saipan.
The chemical, commonly used in firefighting foam and some commercial goods, has not been used by manufacturers in the United States for more than a decade.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that a health advisory be issued if the amount of PFOS in the water exceeds 70 parts per trillion.
Water tested at a booster station that serves several Saipan villages showed contamination levels of 120 parts per trillion, the CUC stated, based on test results received June 5.
“CUC is making this advisory action to help the affected population limit their lifetime exposure to this chemical,” the utility agency stated.
The chemical poses a risk to the health of unborn children, and breastfed and formula-fed infants who are exposed to drinking water above EPA’s health advisory level, according to U.S. EPA.
Guam testing The Guam Waterworks Authority last year shut down several wells and issued public advisories after elevated levels of PFOS were found in the water supply.
Wells A-25 and A-23, located along Route 4 near the Hagåtña McDonald’s restaurant, were removed from the water distribution system last August after they tested positive in 2015 for contamination by PFOS.
New water samples were drawn from the two wells earlier this month, and results from off-island laboratories will confirm if they still are contaminated.

Hoosick Falls meeting addressing ‘shocking’ new report on contaminated water.
HOOSICK FALLS – The mayor of Hoosick Falls is addressing a new report Monday evening showing what he says are shocking levels of PFOA in the village.
Also under discussion is an investigation that involves testing of potential Superfund sites there.
This will help the Department of Environmental Conservation determine if any of these sites will officially be designated as Superfund sites.
If that happens, those sites would be considered for cleanup, because of the risk the contamination poses to the public.
Saint-Gobain and Honeywell International are blamed for the PFOA contamination in the Hoosick Falls drinking water.
The companies are performing tests at four sites under a consent order and the DEC is overseeing the testing.
The EPA’s recommendation is that drinking water contain less than 70 parts per trillion of the cancer-causing contaminant.
The DEC says this testing will help them hold those responsible for the contamination accountable.
The second hour will be in the high school gym where members of the community can ask questions of state officials as well as representatives from Saint-Gobain and Honeywell.

Report: Contamination in Ringwood could threaten the Wanaque Reservoir.
David Zimmer/NorthJersey.com High levels of a dangerous chemical at the Ringwood Superfund site are a potential threat to the nearby Wanaque Reservoir, the major source of drinking water for the region, according to a new report for the state commission that oversees the water supply.
The pollution needs to be treated to ensure it doesn’t migrate to the reservoir — just a mile away — and contaminate the drinking water that serves as many as 3.5 million people, the report said.
Subsequent tests found 1,4-dioxane in groundwater throughout the Superfund site — as high as 215 times the state safety standard of 0.4 micrograms per liter.
But since the treatment plant is incapable of removing 1,4-dioxane, the chemical “will impact the finished water quality” if it migrates that far.
Story continues below Treating the groundwater at its presumed source, Peters Mine, "should ensure that contaminants do not migrate downgradient and impact the water supply,” the report reads.
“Data indicates that the Wanaque has not been impacted by site contamination and is not expected to be impacted by site contamination in the future,” Rodriguez said in an email.
The second test came last March, when commission officials ordered tests after reports in The Record showed the chemical was found throughout the Superfund site near the reservoir.
The chemical was not detected at the intake of the reservoir’s treatment plant and the distribution system after the water is treated.
Environmental officials have said there is no imminent health threat from the levels of 1,4-dioxane that were detected, but there is still no clear consensus on how much of the chemical can be in drinking water before it makes anyone ill.

“The Boil Water Advisory is lifted and customers in Columbus City Utilities service area can resume using tap water for all purposes.
City water elsewhere in the system showed no signs of contamination, Reeves said.
The advisory had also affected customers outside of the City of Columbus.
—————- Story published in Saturday’s edition of The Republic: The city has issued a boil-order until Sunday morning for all customers on Columbus city-provided water after tests detected E. coli in the distribution system and a city well.
Hinton said she learned of the boil order from The Republic’s Facebook page, then contacted Columbus City Utilities Director Keith Reeves, who had issued the order late Friday afternoon.
The boil order, a first for the city utilities in many years, was required after city workers doing routine testing on Wednesday discovered a sample from the city’s distribution system pipes that tested positive for E. coli when results were returned on Thursday.
As a precaution, the state requires a test of all the city’s water supply wells and that test showed a positive E. coli reading Friday in one of Columbus’ 15 wells, Reeves said.
That well, located in the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds area on the southwest side of the city, was immediately taken offline and is not supplying city water at this time, Reeves said.
If you do not want to boil the water, city officials advise using bottled water until the boil water order is lifted.
If you have a severely compromised immune system, have an infant or are elderly, you may be at increased risk from drinking contaminated water and should seek advice from your health care provider about any symptoms.

New research from Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Northeastern University in Boston details PFC pollution in tap water supplies for 15 million Americans in 27 states and from more than four dozen industrial and military sources from Maine to California.
EWG and the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute at Northeastern collaborated to produce an interactive map that combines federal drinking water data and information on all publicly documented cases of PFAS pollution from manufacturing plants, military air bases, civilian airports and fire training sites.
On the map, blue circles show public water systems where PFCs were detected in public drinking water systems – the larger the circle, the more people served by the system.
Red dots indicate a contamination site in Northeastern’s PFAS Contamination Site Tracker.
Drinking water contamination Despite widespread contamination and mounting evidence of health hazards, there are no federal regulations for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water.
EWG’s analysis of the results shows that the tests found PFOA and/or PFOS in 162 systems serving 15.1 million Americans.
Because the EPA only required reporting of detections at or above 20 ppt for PFOA and 40 ppt for PFOS, all of those water supplies had detections exceeding Grandjean and Clapp’s safe level of 1 ppt.
There is no ongoing national-level testing of PFCs in drinking water, and the EPA has said it could be 2019 or later before it decides whether to set a national drinking water standard for PFOA and PFOS.
The Site Tracker provides detailed information for 50 industrial or military contamination sites in 18 states and Guam, plus Australia, Canada and the Netherlands.
Groundwater at the base was found to have 580,000 ppt of PFOS.

State legislators listen to Valley residents affected by contaminated water.
OROSI, Calif. (KFSN) — On Friday, two state legislators met with residents of Valley communities plagued by water contamination problems.
It was a bipartisan tour, and the first stop was at Bertha Diaz’s home in East Orosi.
Due to contamination from surrounding agricultural operations, the water at her home has unsafe levels of nitrates.
She relies on a limited supply of bottled water for cooking and drinking purposes but hopes one day she can have clean drinking water for her family.
State Senator Ed Hernandez and Assemblyman Devon Mathis listened with concern and committed to working together in Sacramento to reach a solution.
"It’s a broken system that I walked into when I got elected," Mathis said.
"And my intent is to get it fixed and to get it solved because families in California, families in America, shouldn’t be going through this."
Other stops on today’s tour included Lanare, west of Riverdale, and Alpaugh, south of Corcoran.
Both of those communities have water contaminated by arsenic.

DNREC to update community on ground water investigations at June GHADA meeting.
EPA to determine if the site warrants further long-term investigation and cleanup At the Monday, June 19 Greater Hockessin Area Development Association (GHADA) meeting, representatives from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) will update the public about the contaminated Hockessin Ground Water Plume Site.
The meeting is at 7 p.m., June 19 at the Hockessin Memorial Hall, 610 Yorklyn Road, Hockessin.
According to a press release, DNREC and EPA have been investigating contamination from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in some ground water wells which supply the Hockessin area’s drinking water.
Public drinking water in the area is provided by Artesian Water Company, and is treated to remove VOCs.
The primary ground water contaminant of concern in the Hockessin area is tetrachloroethylene (PCE), most commonly used as a dry-cleaning solvent and industrial degreaser.
PCE, a VOC which can cause adverse human health effects, was identified in a commercial irrigation well, three residential wells, and several public supply wells in the Artesian Water Company’s Hockessin well field, according to DNREC.
DNREC has requested additional assistance from the EPA to help fully investigate the area, and identify the sources of the VOC contamination in ground water.
At the meeting, DNREC and the EPA will provide information on ground water well testing results for residential properties, along with 2016-17 environmental assessment work completed by EPA on ground water contamination in the area.
The EPA is using its Superfund authority and resources to determine if the site warrants further long-term investigation and cleanup.