Water main in San Jose contaminated with E. coli

SAN JOSE -- Residents in one San Jose neighborhood have to boil their water because it's contaminated with E. coli. But the water company admits it didn't notify people until several days after the first positive test.

Work is being done to get the water main ready to be flushed out in an effort to remove the E. coli contamination. The water company says it's isolated now to just two streets, but this neighborhood is angry about how and when they were notified.

A water issue is boiling over in the east San Jose neighborhood. The San Jose Water Company recently installed a new water main on Piedmont Road. A bacteria test was done Tuesday and it came back positive for E. coli Wednesday. Another test was done and it also came back positive on Thursday. The San Jose Water Company says its protocol to do a second test before notifying the public.

"But you're exposing children, senior citizens, families to E. coli in their drinking water. Why would you not at least give them a heads up that there's a possibility?" asked ABC7's Matt Keller.

"Again, it is a protocol that we follow," said John Tang, San Jose Water Company.

"But doesn't that protocol seem incomplete if you're allowing people to drink that kind of water for 48 hours?" asked Keller.

"You know, the protocol is the protocol. What we, what I can say is, once we confirmed the second test result we put our plan very quickly into action," said Tang.

"It's a lie. It was 11:30 on Friday night," said Jerry Donner, Sydney Court resident.

Donner is angry the San Jose Water Company waited so long to notify the 300 or so homes and businesses in the area about the contamination -- including nearby Milpitas Christian School. Donner and another neighbor confirmed to me notices were being put on front doors after 11 p.m. Friday.

Some, including the school didn't learn of the contamination until Saturday morning.

"I have two young children. They took baths that morning before they knocked on the door. And they were very nonchalant about it," said Chris Odom, Sydney Drive resident.

The San Jose Water Company says they've had only three complaints of people having symptoms similar to E. Coli, but Odom says his family has been sick. Donner says he and his wife went to the hospital Saturday for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

"You need to have a better system set in place, there needs to be something set in place so people can find out when their water is contaminated. This is negligence on their part, is what I believe, it's really negligence," said Donner.

The spokesman for the San Jose Water Company says after this is all done they will sit down and evaluate their protocols. They're hoping the contamination will be cleared by Friday and boil water notice will be lifted.