By Rebecca Goldfine,Staff Writer

PARIS – The town is under a three-day boil-water order after a routine test indicated the presence of E. coli bacteria Wednesday. No cases of illness related to the contaminated water were reported by early evening.

The news from the Paris Utility District lab caused Market Square Health Care Center to dump drinks, Oxford Hills Middle and Fox schools to shut off drinking fountains, a dental office to close and restaurants to serve bottled water.

Utility District Manager Steve Arnold said he began pumping a third of a gallon of chlorine every hour through the water system, including the reservoir, by Wednesday afternoon. The sanitizing process will continue for three days before the water is tested to see if it is drinkable. If it is, the state will lift the boil-water order, he said.

District officials are testing at various locations to try to pinpoint the cause of the contamination.

A monthly sample taken Monday from Paris’ aquifer water showed evidence of E. coli bacteria after 48 hours in a slow-reacting analysis, according to Peter Bickford, chairman of the Paris Utility District Board of Trustees. The results were discovered Wednesday morning in the lab at the Paris wastewater treatment plant.

Immediately, district officials sent out a boil-water order, tacking fliers at the post office and town hall and taking other steps to get the word out.

A nursing supervisor at Stephens Memorial Hospital said early Wednesday evening that there had been no cases of anything related to E. coli.

For the next two days, Paris’ estimated 1,000 water customers are advised to boil tap water for at least five minutes before drinking it. Penny Lowe at the utility district office said, “If people feel better, they can boil the water for cats and dogs.”

Bathing in the water is safe, and washing dishes in water more than 130 degrees is fine, officials advised.

Nearby towns should not be affected, officials said.

Roger Crouse, of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ drinking water program, said Wednesday it is unusual for a municipal water system to be contaminated. He said E. coli is commonly found in the intestines of warm-blooded animals and that most strains are harmless. More worrisome, though, is that its presence in drinking water indicates fecal matter, which contains microbes that when ingested can cause a variety of symptoms including nausea and gastrointestinal distress.

The water test is very sensitive, he explained, indicating the presence or absence of bacteria. The exact strain of E. coli and its concentration is unclear.

Crouse said the contamination could be due to a structural deficiency or even a bird that got trapped in a storage tank vent and died.

Arnold agreed it could be a dead animal, perhaps in the reservoir. He also said the recent heavy rains and renovation of a water tower on Paris Hill that required pumping a lot of water through the system could have contributed to the problem.

Dave Pereno, assistant manager at Save A Lot store on Main Street, said soon after the alert was issued at midmorning, the store sold 30 gallons of bottled water in one hour and was wiped clean. “People keep coming in to ask for it,” he said. The store has ordered 200 more gallons to be delivered this afternoon.

SAD 17 Superintendent Mark Eastman said water fountains at the two schools on the Paris public water system – Mildred M. Fox Elementary School and Oxford Hills Middle School – have been turned off. Hand sanitizers were also placed inside school bathrooms.

Dr. Myung Kim, a Paris dentist, canceled patients until Monday and is installing an ultraviolet water filter, according to a worker at his office.

Maurice Restaurant Francais owner Corey Sumner said he decided to stay open and serve diners bottled water after asking at the utility district if it was advisable to close for a few days.

Utility district employees said they had never known of any system contamination in the past 20 years.

Paris is somewhat famous for its unchlorinated drinking water. Bickford said that four years ago Paris was rated No. 1 in the state by the Maine Rural Water Association for municipal drinking water and has been in the top five since then.