Whoops, too many E. coli texts (but the threat is real for some)

1 min. read
An emergency alert was sent out by the City of Englewood to people across the Denver metro on Aug. 4, indicating that E. Coli was detected in drinking water “in your area.” It was very scary.
Screenshot of the scary alert on an iPhone

Earlier this week, the City of Englewood notified residents of Zone 1 of the city's water system of positive tests for E. coli -- and said they should boil water for three minutes before drinking it, to be safe. As of Friday morning, that boil water advisory is still in effect, according to a city worker who answered a call to the city's designated boil-water line.

City of Englewood

On Wednesday those phone alerts also notified a lot of people who were not affected, and a Denver Water spokesperson told Denverite on Wednesday, Denver and Englewood have different systems.

The Arapahoe County Office of Emergency Management said in a release on Thursday that "for reasons currently under investigation by software engineers, the alert went beyond the set parameters notifying residents outside the city."

For those affected, Englewood set up a water distribution center at the Civic Center at 1000 Englewood Pkwy., delivering drinking water and water tanks, the ACOEM said.

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