WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — State Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Boca Raton, is tired of the protocol for testing for pollution in drinking water and beach water that calls for second or third positive tests before notifying the public.
"We can't wait for second tests," Gossett-Seidman said.
Riviera Beach tested a drinking sample and found fecal matter in drinking water in June 2023, and a subsequent test determined it was a false positive.
Rep. Gossett-Seidman said the public still should have been warned about that first test.
Investigations
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"In the case of some examples I've seen throughout the state, days and weeks and months go by without letting the public know," Gossett-Seidman said. "And that's not right."
Riviera Beach is not the only area community where people lost faith in the quality of their drinking water, at least temporarily.
In 2021, West Palm Beach found levels of a toxin from blue-green algae in its drinking water, forcing the city to deliver bottled water to homes.
It took several days between the first positive test, and when the city told the public, that's several days where people drank tainted water.
Gossett-Seidman's bill calls for municipalities to tell the public right away if a test shows pollutants in drinking water and other forms of pollution.
"We have a 911 for emergencies, an Amber Alert, a Silver Alert, we're hoping to have a water alert," she said.
She added that she's "fairly confident" that the bill, which has bipartisan support, will pass.
Transparency matters, doctors say
Records obtained by WPTV from the Florida Department of Health reveal fecal positive tests in Riviera Beach’s water supply on June 6, 2023, June 13, 2023, June 27, 2023, Aug. 10 and Aug. 11, 2023.
In an email from the director of Riviera Beach's Special Utility District, Michael Low called the June 6 test a "false positive," after duplicate testing on June 8 came back negative for E. coli.
Utility customers were not notified of the positive test.
The only positive test that resulted in a public notice from the city was the one conducted on June 27. The public notice was issued on Jan. 19, 2024, following an approval process that lasted more than a month.
When it comes to what's in your tap water, doctors say transparency matters.
"It's very important because you don't want an outbreak of E. coli, so let's say we find out and we don't say anything, and we wait two or three days," Dr. Olayemi Osiyemi said. "By that time, a lot of people may have consumed the water and you have thousands of people that may have E. coli disease."
Osiyemi said symptoms of an E. coli infection can include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. An infection can also lead to sepsis, kidney damage or death, Osiyemi said.