Boil water advisory remains for parts of NE DC as water tests positive for contamination

Some 7,000 D.C. residents still must boil their tap water on Saturday as the boil water advisory continues. DC Water confirmed on Saturday that water in the area tested positive for contamination.

A DC Water official said e.coli was found in only one area affected on Alison St., Northeast. However, the official said no illnesses have been reported.

According to the EPA, total coliform is considered a "useful" indicator of the safety of drinking water, which indicates if harmful bacteria, such as e. coli, has gotten into the system.

DC Water says they will continue to test water samples and flush water from the system. The next update will be by 10 a.m. on Sunday.

The scope of the area has lessened significantly from the initial advisory zone, but areas such as University Heights, Michigan Park, Queens Chapel and parts of Brookland remain affected.

After the initial advisory, 34,000 customers were affected. An official clarified on Saturday that a customer can be different from a single individual, but can encompass an entire household or apartment complex.

DC Water posted to Twitter on Saturday morning, warning residents in those areas to avoid using water appliances connected to water lines, drinking or cooking with unboiled water, or giving it to pets.

Showering, watering plants, doing laundry, running the dishwater and breastfeeding is still safe, they say.

Public pools and spray parks within the affected area will remain closed. Those pools affected are the following:

Impacted Pools:

Parkview, Happy Hollow, Harry Thomas, Upshur, Theodore Hagans, Turkey Thicket, Banneker, Marie Reed, Jelleff, Volta

Impacted Spray Parks:

14th & Girard, 14th & Park, Columbia Heights, Friendship, Palisades, Petworth, Riggs-LaSalle, Langdon Park, Turkey Thicket, Kennedy.

The incident initially began in the middle of the night between Thursday and Friday. An official says that a pipe went down for about an hour.

Those now out of the affected zone are being asked to run cold water for about 10 minutes before resuming normal use.

This contradicts an earlier posting on Twitter by DC Water which said that those out of the advisory can continue as normal.

Public pools no longer within those areas have been chlorinated, tested and will open on time.