Water Update for June 26

Dear Members,
A quick update on our water system. The board is working hard on multiple fronts to help address our community’s water systems issues. As many of you know from your own experience building and maintaining your properties in Glacier Springs, it is often difficult to get contractors out to our area, and that is equally true when dealing with specialized/niche services like water systems and engineering firms. But here is brief update on our progress:

Engineering
• We have spoken to several engineering firms who have been helpful in guiding our future direction. Some firms have expressed their willingness to help; others have referred us to other firms. We are exploring all/any vendor options, but the list of qualified firms is very small.
• We’ve had productive briefing with the firm that helped with our 2007 water main and tank replacement project. The firm principal is quite familiar with our system, and we are coordinating a site visit within the next two weeks.
• We have another firm that also expressed a willingness to help and has come highly recommended from multiple sources.
• We have a contractor that we’ve spoken to for some short-term remediation efforts designed to provide greater seals to our spring tanks and increase areas for ground-water run-off near the tanks. We need to confirm these measures are advisable with the water system engineering firm, as well as a geological engineering firm since it will include moving earth from around the spring source. All of this work will be coordinated with the Department of Health as well.
• All firms have urged us to exercise patience and recognize that whatever solutions we move forward with, it will likely take time to have the work engineered, permitted, and constructed. Timelines will be drawn once plans are set.
• While it is too soon to make the determination whether any treatment system is necessary, we are exploring all options including chemical and UV systems.

Community Meeting
• Our intention remains to have a community meeting as soon as we have completed at least one engineering site visit and have a recommendation from an engineering firm.

Recent Testing
• We continue to test the water system bi-weekly. After the rains four weeks ago, we had a very minor detection of coliform in one of the eight testing locations. Otherwise, the tests have been clean.
• The boil water advisory remains in effect per DOH guidance.

We appreciate everyone’s patience. Like you, the board and volunteers on our water task force are homeowners and working diligently to get this solved as quickly as possible. We are committed to the long-term health of our residents and our water system.

Water Update 3/4/2023

The update for today is that the contractor did come out to Glacier Springs on Wednesday afternoon as planned to scope the project. They will do the cleaning work on the tanks as soon as they are able. The current issue is the snow – they can’t get their equipment/work vehicle up the hill to the tanks at the moment. The weather/temperature looks to improve as we move through the weekend and into the first part of next week, so they’re thinking maybe Monday/Tuesday, again depending on Mother Nature. Both tanks will clean both inside and out, and then apply the (hopefully, final) system disinfection at that same time.

Water System Update – Tuesday, 2/28

Hello, everyone –

The good news is that the second round of test results have been received, and again, we are negative for E Coli. The slightly less good news is that we still have trace amounts of coliform in one of the two storage tanks. This means that we are unable to safely lift the boil water notice at this time. The next – and hopefully final – steps are to have the tanks themselves cleaned inside and out, followed by one final round of system disinfection. We contacted a contractor today to get the tank cleanup work completed; they will be out tomorrow to scope the work and provide a timeline for its completion. We will of course continue to keep you all informed as these final remediation steps are completed.

Glacier Springs Water Update – Thurs 2/23/2023

As most owners know, we have been under a boil-water order since last Friday, February 16, due to a positive test result for E Coli and cloriform in the system. In addition to email and our Facebook group, we are also providing updates here on our public website page. We have made every effort possible to reach all owners and users of GS water via online updates, email, and door-hanger notices at homes in the community. If you have still been missed, we encourage you to provide your email address, along with your name and Glacier Springs street address (for verification purposes) to info@glaciersprings.org to ensure you are included on future emergency communications. 

Water System Update:

I just spoke with our water operator about some test results we just received. Tests were taken in 5 locations around the system after the cleaning work done on Monday. All were negative for E Coli, and only one location was positive for coliform. While this is a big improvement, we continue to work on maintenance and cleaning of the system to remediate that positive coliform result. Per DOH guidelines we need two consecutive negative (clean) test results to remove the boil-water order. To that end:

• One more sample was submitted today to the lab/DOH for verification we are clean of E Coli.
• Additional tests will be taken tomorrow (Friday) in 8 testing locations; we would expect to have those results back on Monday from the lab.
• If those tests all come back negative, that would be our second all clear; so, we would be able to lift the boil order early next week.

Again, thanks for your patience – this has been trying for all of us. On behalf of the board, I’d like to express my appreciation to those who have been working on the issue since last week, and to those community members who volunteered so quickly to distribute door hangers on Monday, as well as those who have shared information with others by word of mouth. Every little bit helps!

Jeff Sabado
President, Glacier Springs Property Owners’ Association