E. coli found in McNeil water system

SEATTLE – Inmates and workers at the McNeil Island Corrections Center are drinking bottled water after weekend lab tests found fecal coliform and E. coli bacteria in the island water system.

The system has been flushed and more chlorine added “to kill any bacteria that’s there, wherever it is,” prison spokeswoman Corrine McElfish said Tuesday.

Samples have been taken to see if those efforts have cleaned up the problem, but the test results had not come back by the close of business Tuesday, she said.

A state Health Department engineer was trying to pinpoint the source of the contamination, McElfish said. “We still don’t know what the source is, or if there’s more than one.”

No illnesses have been conclusively linked to the contamination, though some reported symptoms could be related, state Health Department and state prison officials said.

The state prison houses about 1,050 adult male felons and employs about 600 staff.