The City of Salem will continue an advisory about the quality of its drinking water until Thursday afternoon.
Algae in Detroit Lake, which is Salem’s supply for drinking water, has gotten into the system.
The algae can make people with vulnerable immune systems sick. Those people include children younger than 6, elderly people, those on dialysis, new or expecting mothers and people with compromised immune systems. They should drink bottled water.
The City got confirmation of the test results on Sunday, but they waited until Tuesday afternoon to issue the alert.
City officials cited an EPA statistic that shows people could be exposed to the water for 10 days before potentially getting sick. They say that gave them time to develop a plan and statement they issued to residents.
They’ve made modifications to the City’s water treatment facility they hope have eliminated the problem. They know Thursday afternoon when new test results are returned.
Many stores in the Salem area ran out of bottled water. Larger stores expected new shipments of bottled water Wednesday. Costco was expecting six truckloads of water.