E. coli bacteria have been detected in the drinking water of Siglufjörður, a fishing town in northern Iceland. Local authorities have advised residents to boil their water after routine monitoring by the Health Inspectorate of Northwest Iceland (Heilbrigðiseftirlit Norðurlands vestra) found the contamination.
The positive water sample was taken on 19 October. Local authorities responded by advising all Siglufjörður residents to boil their drinking water before use. The contamination was discovered during regular safety checks and was first reported by RÚV and Trölli.
There is a suspicion that recent construction work on the street beneath the local health institution allowed E. coli to enter the drinking-water system, but the source has not yet been confirmed. Sigríður Hjaltadóttir, cited by Trölli, said, “There is suspicion that the works caused E.coli to enter the drinking water.”
Authorities said further information about the incident was expected the following day, but results of any follow-up tests had not yet been made public.
Background
Siglufjörður is part of the Fjallabyggð municipality, which was formed in 2006 by the merger of Ólafsfjörður and Siglufjörður. The Herring Era Museum, a maritime museum, opened in 1994 in Siglufjörður. The town’s population has been declining since the 1950s.
Sources
Links: addtoany.com · addtoany.com
- RÚV (first reported) in Icelandic
- Trölli in Icelandic
Image: Hansueli Krapf / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · licence, original (resized) Illustrative image.
