HOMINY, Okla. — People in Hominy are boiling their water after the city said they found E.coli in the water supply.
Students had virtual learning on May 6, and a few businesses closed their doors.
Bonnie Pertrone works at JJ’s Grill in Hominy. The restaurant started boiling water on the stove Monday morning. They used it to wash their hands and start cleaning the dishes.
In the year she’s worked at the restaurant they’ve never had this issue before, but they came ready to serve customers.
“Here at the restaurant we have bottled water, bottled pop,” said Bonnie Petrone. “We are not serving our ice or our fountain drinks right now.”
Here's the boil order:
Other businesses in town, like Sonic, closed shop. Simon’s Pizza used bottled water to make their pizza dough.
At the grill, Petrone had a few changes to her morning routine.
“I went ahead and took a shower, but I did wash my hands afterwards with a bottle of water and brushed my teeth with that bottled water afterwards,” said Petrone.
Interim City Manager Diana Garrett said it's all hands on deck in Hominy as they told the town about the boil order.
“We notified restaurants, schools, daycares, and all other businesses,” said Diana Garrett.
Weekend testing showed E. coli in the water supply, so everyone is required to boil water to prevent illness.
“For the duration of this we will supply drinking water,” said Garrett.
There are water buffalos full of drinkable water at the fire station in town. City workers also packed up pallets of water to hand out at local schools. Kids were in virtual learning May 6, but schools will be open on May 7.
All of the water in Hominy comes from Hominy lake. The DEQ is still working to figure out the source of the contamination. They’re testing and investigating.
“Of course that kind of makes you scared,” said Petrone. “We go down there almost every day to the lake and that’s our drinking water.”
The city says they’re waiting on DEQ to identify the problem area so they can fix it.
“Now it’s in their hands,” said Garrett. “We wait while they do their investigation.
Petrone is hoping the issue is resolved quickly for herself and their customers.
“We’re trying just to be safe,” said Petrone.
For more resources on boil orders, click here.
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