Newark Issues Public Health Notice About Drinking Water

The city of Newark is notifying residents that its water department failed to properly monitor turbidity, or cloudiness, in its drinking water for a period of three years, which may have put people's health at risk. 

The city says the water that flowed from the nearby Charlottesburg reservoir wasn't properly checked for turbidity, which could indicate the presence of bacteria, viruses and parasites, from at leastJanuary 2011 through April 17, 2014.

As a result, it's possible some disease-causing organisms weren't detected in the drinking water over the past three years, which could have caused symptoms like nausea, cramps, diarrhea and headaches. 

If residents are continuing to experience those symptoms, they should go to a doctor for evaluation, officials say. 

The city says there is no emergency, and that the violation was addressed and is not ongoing.

Newark's water department had "corrected substandard monitoring and recording procedures in their turbidity meters," and the city has been required by the state DEP to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the water treatment plant.

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