Privately Owned Public Utility and Its Impact . . .

Down where I now live in Arizona, we had waters issues. No shortage of water. Just issues with the quality of the water. There is a large abundance of water near us.

Apparently, there was an event where E. coli bacteria got into the potable water system. Supposedly, this occurred around the 25th of August. The public was not notified until several days later (28th?). By that time some people were getting sick. And of course, the attention turned to a polluted water system, which notifications were supposedly late, and now people were ill. Of course, the Maricopa citizens of Maricopa turned their attention to the city administration and finally the company.

Where else would you go other than the local administration first. Except it is not a city run operation. Neither is it contracted by the city. It is a private utility which answers to the state in Phoenix. After applying some fixes and flushing the system, the state approved the Utility efforts.

The city, the city attorney, the city council, and the mayor deny any responsibility in taking on the water issues because it can do so, it is a private utility (redundant alert) doing a public service and therefore “It is not my problem.”

Each citizen is left to fend for themselves.

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One City Council Member’s comment on the issue with the water which was reported on after a fix.

“I was informed about 10 minutes before you, as this is a private company, not a city agency. No, there was no crisis team as we learned about after the ADEA had already cleared the issue. I want to share some key information from Global Water about recent water quality testing and the steps that were taken:

Strictly regulated process – Water utilities are highly regulated by ADEQ and the EPA. Global Water followed all required sampling and notification timelines and remained in regular contact with ADEQ.

Independent lab testing – Samples are tested by a state-certified third-party lab. It takes about 18 hours to complete the test, so results are typically available the next day. Samples were pulled on August 26, 2025, and results came back on August 27.

Immediate notification – When a test indicates possible E.coli, ADEQ must be notified the same day. Global Water made that notification on August 27 for the August 26 sample.

Repeat sampling requirement – EPA and ADEQ require repeat samples within 24 hours. These repeat tests confirm whether an initial result was accurate or an anomaly. ADEQ did not recommend issuing a public notice at this stage.

Extra precaution – Global Water not only retested on the morning of August 28 (within the 24-hour window) but also collected additional precautionary samples the afternoon of August 27.

Final resolution and customer notice – ADEQ reviewed the repeat test results on August 29, advised the issue was resolved, but still required a notice to customers. Global Water sent notices on August 30 less than 24 hours after receiving the repeat results. ADEQ approved the wording and determined who should receive the notice.

Takeaway: All required steps were followed, additional precautions were taken, and communication with ADEQ guided every action.

If you have questions, Global Water encourages you to reach out directly.” Notifications — Nextdoor

A straight out of the book answer.

Meanwhile, it is reported that people did become ill and are blaming the water.