Frontier City re-opens after E. Coli is found in water
ROBERT MEDLEY
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Published: July 31, 2009
Frontier City amusement park, which closed Thursday afternoon and Friday morning due to a harmful bacteria found in the water used for drinking and preparing food, has re-opened.
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Earlier this week, tests done by state Department of Environmental Quality workers at the 51-year-old amusement park found E. coli, said DEQ spokeswoman Skylar McElhaney.
"If E. coli is present it does not matter how much is there. It could have an adverse health risk and a boil order is necessary," McElhaney said.
The park re-opened at 12:30 p.m. with restrictions on drinking the water or using the water for food preparation, a park spokeswoman said. No water rides will be closed as a result of the contamination.
Andrea Pennock, Frontier City spokeswoman, said park officials closed the theme park in northeast Oklahoma City Thursday afternoon after learning of the test results, and park officials met Friday before deciding to re-open.
Bottled drinks and pre-packaged food will be available for guest purchase, she said.
New mechanical chlorination systems have been installed and all water servicing facilities have been sanitized. Both the water and the facilities will be inspected, she said
"The Department of Environmental Quality is continually working with Frontier City staff to insure the highest water quality for our guests and employees," Pennock said in a statement.
McElhaney said the park was not required to close the gates but must now notify the public of the tests results and that the water is unsafe for human consumption. She said the Oklahoma City-Oklahoma County Health Department will be required to check food preparations at the park.
Meanwhile the park has been required to install a chlorinator, McElhaney said. Then DEQ workers will have to get eight test results to show the water is clean once the chlorinator is working.
She said she did not know of any reports of anyone getting sick from drinking the water at the park.
Pam Williams, spokeswoman for the state Health Department, said her agency has not had any reports of anyone becoming ill from E. coli from drinking water at Frontier City or eating food there.
Oklahoma City-Oklahoma County Health Department workers were also at the park Friday morning, said H.R. Holman, spokesman. He said the park uses well water that has been tested positive for E. coli. He said park officials have been told not to serve ice or water.
"We are out there working with the park," Holman said.
He said no one has reported being sick form water at the park. He said symptoms of being exposed to E. Coli may not show up for 12 to 18 hours after being exposed. He said the park officials called the city-county health department about 4 p.m. Thursday about the test results.
Pennock could not comment on specifics of the water test results but released the following statement:
"Like many in this area, we utilize well water which is quality-tested monthly by the Department of Environmental Quality. Immediately upon notification of unsatisfactory test results on July 30, all use of public water was terminated and, out of an abundance of caution, the park was closed."
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Who wrote this headline? Yoda?
Nevertheless, don’t be too hard on Cletus. He is my roommate; I care about him and must look after him.
We started by mixing a batch of alum in a industrial mixer. We used parasitic pumps to inject the alum into the muddy water as it filled a thousand gallon tank. We let it set for 3 hours until the mud fell to the bottom. Then we sucked the clean water off the top. Then we injected the calcium oxide, sodium carbonate, and chlorine and ran it through a large high rate sand filter. The resulting water was pristine and delicious. Today's large treatment plants use a totally different system to create a tasteless product. But your best bet is a well with a good filter.
By the way, the DEQ will never tell you that your water is clear of coliform bacteria. They will only tell you that you have less than 100 colonies. Also here is a tidbit that will BLOW THE TOP off this whole Frontier City Issue. I will use all caps to illustrate an important point:
THERE MAY BE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH FRONTIER CITY'S WATER. YES, I SAID IT. FRONTIER CITY'S WATER MAY BE THE MOST PUREST WATER IN THE WORLD. IT MAY CONTAIN ZERO BACTERIAL COLONIES AND BE 100 PERCNT MADE OF ONLY HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN AND NOTHING ELSE.
Ok, that being said. The testing system at the DEQ is HIGHLY flawed. They require you to send in monthly samples taken at random places. So you go out to a hydrant or hose bib and fill the little plastic container, put it in the pre-addressed envelope, and take it to the post office and send it off. So, a week later you get a letter from the DEQ stating "Dir (fill in the company name), your sample did not arrive to our testing facility in time and it was retroactively rejected. Please remember that if you do this one more time you are required by law to tell your patrons that your water has not been tested and that you will be fined $1000 per day if you do not post the warning."
So, if the post offices fails to deliver your water sample to the DEQ twice in a row, they send the same letter that Frontier City got yesterday. The water may be just fine, its the test system that is broken.
Does anyone remember "The Billy Bob Buzzard Show" out there in the 80's? We knew the script so well that we'd deliver the punchlines before the puppeteer could. He was none too happy with us. Random thought, eh?
Go figure!?!
I miss the The Nightmare Mine. It was one of the best rides in the park. There is a similar ride in Old Town in Kissimmee Florida which is basically a Galaxi coaster. Its called The Tornado. I swear the ride is going to mash your organs every time. I believe they messed up big time by not converting it to a black light ride. They could paint the rails and cars with glow in the dark paint and have all kinds of weird glowing things going on. By the way, Old Town has the world's tallest sky coaster. It pulls you up 300 feet into the air. it also has a car you can ride at 100 mph.