UPDATE Thursday at 7:17 p.m. Fort Oglethorpe Mayor Earl Gray said residents are safe to drink their water again.
The Environmental Protection Division ran samples from faucets of houses Wednesday night, and the results came back negative for E. coli this evening. On Wednesday afternoon, the city received a water sample that had been positive for the bacteria, sparking concern.
“It was just a contaminated sample,” Gray said. “There was never anything in the line.”
The city advised local residents this morning to boil their water or drink bottled water as the city awaited the results. But Gray said he believed the city’s water was not actually contaminated.
The city had taken samples from outdoor faucets at several properties Tuesday evening. While one came back positive for the bacteria, the others from houses on the same street were negative. Gray said city employees believed either animals or people had contaminated that one particular line.