CEDAR HILLS, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Thirteen homes in Cedar Hills have been drinking dirty water. A mix-up in the water lines sent irrigation water through the culinary line. The problem is fixed now; but not until after thirteen families were sick some with giardia.
Crystal Michaelis told ABC4, "When you turn on your faucet, you don't expect to have to worry about what you are drinking."
Michaelis and her family, does have to worry about the water. They say it made them sick, with giardia. They have been tested and those tests were positive for the infection. The symptoms have been so bad, Crystal's husband has lost 24 pounds in three weeks.
At the first of July, Cedar Hills had a water remodel stream lining all of the water to Cedar Hills water. When the job was done, the water wasn't right.
Michaelis said, "We kept telling them the water is yellow, why is it yellow? why does it taste weird?"
Thirteen homes on the Cedar Hills street had the same problem, the water tasted bad and definitely didn't look right.
Michaelis said, "Everybody on our street was getting sick."
After some investigating, the Public Works department discovered irrigation water was going into the culinary water line. There was a two inch pipe connecting the two.
The city found the problem and got to work on a solution. They have flushed out the bad water and have fixed the pipe problem. The water is now clean, but families are still dealing with giardia symptoms.
Michaelis said, "We aren't sure the long term affects on the children."
As for paying the bills, Cedar Hills' May Gary Gygi said the city will pay for all of the bad water and the water used to flush the system. Each family has spent quite a bit on medical bills and the city says they are working with their Insurance company to get that sorted out.
Cedar Hills city officials and the 13 families will meet again on Thursday to see how the process to compensate the families is going, ABC4 will keep you posted on this story.
