Pinal County customers of Johnson Utilities should continue to avoid giving their drinking water to babies. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality says tests performed in October and November showed nitrate levels in Johnson Utilities’ water above the federal drinking-water standard.
After ADEQ issued the warning, the company posted a message to Facebook disputing the nitrate levels saying "Our water is safe to drink.”
ADEQ says they were finally able to get in touch with Johnson on Monday. The department says that the method Johnson Utilities used to test the water is an unapproved field method and that Johnson did not provide any data backing up their claim.
ADEQ spokeswoman Caroline Oppleman says the department took additional samples from the water system for testing.
“Typically these test for nitrates take about a week to get the results. We are expediting the test results so that we can find out the status of the water quality on Wednesday Dec. 7,” she said.
Oppleman says that until the results are announced, infants and persons with a medical condition should not consume the water.
