Bacteria contamination was reason VA Center water was cut off for a week

Bacteria in stagnant water was the reason Lawton-Fort Sill Veterans Center on Flower Mound Road cut off water inside the facility, said officials with the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs.

Oklahoma VA Deputy Director Shawn Kirkland said water was restored to the center on Tuesday, after officials cut off internal water on Nov. 5. While water faucets, toilets and other water sources within the residential center did not work, the facility and its residents were never without water, Kirkland said.

Kirkland said problems were first identified when a resident was taken to the hospital with symptoms of pneumonia, The hospital identified the cause as Legionnaire’s disease.

“He’s fully recovered, came back, and we got to work immediately with the health department and the Department of Environmental Quality and started testing water sources, to try to identify a source,” Kirkland said.

He said testing was done at various sites within the center and when several sites came back positive for legionella (the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s disease), the center shut off water inside the facility. Within an hour of that being done, the VA had a 5,000-gallon-tanker truck on site to supply water to the building and made bottled water available to tenants and staff.

“It didn’t affect operations, other than to take a shower,” Kirkland said, adding the center’s staff still was able to serve hot meals and take care of patients with bedside bathing.

Officials resolved the problem by flushing waterlines.

“We’ll continue some things as we go forward with whatever the recommendation is,” Kirkland said, adding those actions will include routine flushing of waterlines.

He said the bacteria found “strictly comes through water sources, water that has been setting, a faucet that has not run for a long time.” Health officials have said if chlorine in the treated water dissipates, chlorine no longer is sufficient to kill bacteria, and that is a problem that can be found when water sets too long in areas such as unused faucets.

Kirkland said Oklahoma VA officials acknowledge the length of time water was cut off to the center was inconvenient.

“We’re not happy with it either,” he said, adding the staff wanted to work with public health officials and the federal VA (whose inspectors were on site last week for an inspection) to take whatever precautions were necessary to ensure patients were safe.

Evacuation of the center was not an option that was considered.

“It was not anyone’s recommendation,” Kirkland said. “There was no need to do that, based on any guidelines with Legionnaire’s disease.”