Mobile Home Park Water Contaminated

Maybe they came from the ground. Or the nearby stream. Or even the rain.

Wherever they came from, bacteria somehow got into the water system at the Trade Winds Mobile Home Park in Simi Valley, leaving residents to drink bottled water brought in by the park management.

Park Manager Mike Hancock said Friday that in response to the problem, the park will switch from using water drawn from three wells to using the city’s water supply. Workers should begin tying the park into city water lines Monday, he said.

The bacteria showed up during a routine test last week, Hancock said. Since then, the system has been repeatedly flushed with chlorine to kill the unwanted intruders, even though Hancock does not know exactly where the bacteria have entered the pipes.

“That’s the problem--it’s just in the system, and you don’t know where it comes from,” he said.

The coliform bacteria, which in high concentrations can produce such nonfatal but highly unpleasant symptoms as diarrhea, are a common curse to property owners who depend on ground wells for water.

Raquel Harvey, a bacteriologist with FGL Environmental in Santa Paula, said the pests can come from a number of sources.

“This kind of bacteria can be in dust, in dirt--it can be everywhere,” she said.