The city of Riviera Beach said the quality of its water from January 2023 to September 2023 is unknown after various issues within its special utility district.
It's a reversal after numerous city officials claimed the water for people in Riviera Beach and surrounding areas was always safe to drink. Customers will receive a notice detailing how the utility didn't follow state and federal drinking standards on Friday, but our WPTV Investigative Team received a copy of the notice in response to a different record request.
"We did not complete all monitoring or testing for total coliform and E.coli, and, therefore cannot be sure of your drinking water during that time," the notice reads.
Utility DistriCt - Letter 8-30 by Aja
The notice also reveals the city had at least seven positive tests for total coliform seven times in 2023, which city documents said is an indicator of human or animal waste within the water. Only two positive tests were known before the notice was published, including one WPTV's Ethan Stein found within state documents on Aug. 15, 2023.
This notice doesn't specify a test on Aug. 15, but it does pick out a positive test for E.coli and total coliform on Aug. 10, 2023.
WPTV Investigates
WPTV EXCLUSIVE: Riviera Beach city manager apologizes for water quality issues
The city also said it didn't meet record requirements related to water quality tests. This included keeping or reporting records of bacteriological monitoring to the Florida Department of Health. According to the notice, the city also didn't properly retest samples, which tested positive for water contamination.
WPTV's Ethan Stein reported on emails in February showing the city didn't follow standards to retest a sample, which tested positive for water contamination in January. An internal investigation our news team received from a public record request found not enough city employees were getting notified about water sample results and employees were scared to collect water samples in people's houses.
Riviera Beach
Another water sample tested positive for fecal bacteria in August
The notice also said the city wasn't using enough chlorine in their water for one day in May and June of this year. The city's utility had problems with the amount of chlorine in its water during 2016.
