RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — E. coli and fecal matter were present in two Riviera Beach wells and "did, in fact," seep into the city's drinking water supply, the mayor said on Monday.
According to Mayor Ronnie Felder, the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County told him the drinking water was contaminated by materials. The statement contradicts the prior statements from city staff, who told WPTV and the Riviera Beach City Council that the water wasn't contaminated after it went through the city's treatment plant.
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Felder said he would start an investigation into the reasons city staff didn't report the issue to the state, the reason people didn't receive warnings about the contamination and the reasons staff incorrectly informed the council about the issue. He said he would seek "strict consequences" for all people involved in the error.
"Access to clean drinking water is a basic human right," Felder said. "Nearly every member of our City Council ran on clean water as a platform item. So it's my responsibility to ensure every resident of Riviera Beach has access to safe and clean water."
Felder declined to answer questions from reporters Monday. He didn't comment on the levels of the contamination or the specific places affected by the contamination. However, Felder said he believed the contamination doesn't exist as of Monday and implied the contamination occurred in June 2023.
Utility workers discovered fecal bacteria in one of the city's many wells in June 2023, but the city didn't notify residents until January.
Riviera Beach's delayed announcement drew the ire of City Council Member Tradrick McCoy.
"Nobody should be sitting here waiting seven months for an explanation about why there's fecal matter contamination in the city's well-water supply," McCoy said at a City Council meeting on Jan. 24.
Four council members accused McCoy of having an altercation with another council member after the council meeting in which he was cut off from speaking about the water issue because of a quorum concern. Those four council members voted to censure McCoy due to the altercation, which could allow Gov. Ron DeSantis to remove McCoy.
The fight is still under investigation by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, which didn't have an incident report related to the case as of Monday.
The seven-month delay in announcing the issue also bothered Cindy March, who lives in Riviera Beach. She said she feels frustrated over officials lying to the public about the issue and supports McCoy for becoming passionate about the issue.
"To find this is very disturbing to me," March said. "Because if you ran on clean water nine years ago when sitting in a council seat, something should have been done. ... The lying is frustrating."
Riviera Beach Utility Director Michael Low told WPTV's Dave Bohman the city didn't notify the public because the water was safe due to the treatment plant about three weeks ago. He also made a similar statement to the City Council last week.
"That very treatment process is designed to handle this situation," Low told the council last week. "Because of this, they decided the thing they should do immediately is protect the supply to the plant and shut it down."
He also blamed the county health department for taking that long to sign off on the language of the public notice.
The announcement from Felder contradicted the information from Low, who attended and didn't speak at the news briefing on Monday. WPTV contacted Low directly late Monday but did not hear back.
Deloris Williams, who came to the announcement at City Hall with a bucket of yellow-tinted tap water from her house, said she was not surprised by the water being contaminated. She said she believed it was contaminated because the water was yellow and showed WPTV how bleach clears up the water.
"The water used to be worse than this," Williams said. "...That they [are] lying and trying to make it like everything is right after and they've been doing this for spending millions of dollars on this thing here."
She believes the water is still contaminated with E.Coli because of the water's yellow tint. The city of Riviera Beach said the color comes from broken-down organic matter making it through the filtration process.
Construction hasn't started on a new water treatment plant for the city of Riveria Beach as of January. According to a sign on the land, construction was supposed to start in January 2022 and be completed by 2025.
A report, which was published in 2016, also found the city violated standards regarding its utilities multiple times.