After three months without safe drinking water, the Warm Springs Indian Reservation can once again drink the water from their taps. The boil water notice for the Warm Springs Water Treatment plant was lifted Wednesday afternoon, according to a news release from the Confederated Tribes.
All summer, the reservation in Central Oregon had been without safe drinking water after a burst pipe led to a series of infrastructure failures. Around 4,000 people were impacted.
The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs say numerous improvements have been made to the infrastructure including a repair of the water main break in Shitike Creek and the replacement of pressure reducing valves, but more construction is expected in the coming months.
Tribal utilities and wastewater staff completed two rounds of testing for bacterial contamination and returned negative results. These were submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency in order to lift the boil water notice.