Kids stayed home, neighbors pitched in and restaurants coordinated with public health officials on the first morning of a town-wide boil water order.
That’s after the Town of Jackson found bacteria in well water and issued an emergency order on Thursday night.
Testing is underway after the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed the presence of E. coli and ordered a mandatory advisory throughout the town. Public works director Johnny Ziem told the Jackson Hole Daily the issue was limited to one well that had been shut off for two weeks. But the town’s disinfection system will remain down during testing.
That process takes at least three days, meaning the earliest return to normalcy would be Sunday evening.
It was the first such closure locals could remember in recent history.
While Cowboy Coffee Co.’s closure downtown left people wandering for a morning brew, workers boiled water for drip coffee at Snake River Roasting. Five tourist families surveyed by KHOL said they’d sipped bottled water from their hotels and weren’t too bothered.
“We’re having a great time; what are we going to do, throw a fit?” said tourist Helen Cook, of Missouri, as she headed out of the Bunnery Bakery and Restaurant with her family.
Teton County Health Director Dr. Travis Riddell said the risk to public health is expected to be limited.
“Based on what I know about the contamination scenario, it ought to be pretty low. But certainly more than zero,” he said.
E. coli is likely an indicator of fecal matter in the town well, he said. The most likely scenario is that the pollutant was introduced in a “small amount” during maintenance, he said, “rather than some massive contamination event.”
But the exposure is still having ripple effects throughout town.
“This is a really big deal for hospitality, like restaurants and hotels,” Riddell said. “So there are specific guidelines for those types of groups we’re working on.”
Direct alerts to people’s phones sent waves of shoppers to gas stations and grocery stores in search of water, which quickly sold out. Even seltzer supplies were running low by Thursday evening.
Jacob Dodd hoisted Madeline Heron on top of his shoulders to grab the last two water bottles from the top shelf at Albertson’s around 9:30 p.m. on Friday.
“I haven’t used that technique in a long time, but you know, it came in handy,” Dodd said.
School officials planned to meet Friday at 2 p.m. to make plans for next week. St. John’s Health remains open and fully operational. An environmental health worker for the town said testing was ongoing and updates would be posted to JacksonWy.gov.
Despite the chaos in grocery stores reminiscent of COVID-era runs on toilet paper, many also jumped into action.
Residents in Rafter J and Victor offered water from alternative systems, as did folks making the drive back from Idaho Falls. Element Plumbing is offering access to a UV disinfectant water station until 5 p.m. on Friday. Lad Lanier of Arkansas said that when his son’s wedding reception reservation was canceled late Thursday night, his family went to Corsa in Teton Village, which operates on a different water system and stayed open late for their big night.
“They even did a menu with their names on it already printed; it was unbelievable,” Lanier said.
Riddell tried to strike a note of calm.
“There’s a scarcity mindset that sort of strikes in these situations,” he said. “But fortunately, the vast majority of us have the means to boil water, and it might be more lukewarm than you’d prefer, but no one’s going to die of dehydration here.”
