On Saturday, the Portland Water Bureau (PWB) told residents west of the Willamette River—as well as other water districts including Burlington, Palatine Hill and Valley View—not to drink water without boiling it first. The bureau’s routine testing uncovered E. coli and other hazardous bacteria in tap water supplied west of the river.
Within 24 hours, PWB lifted the boil-water notice and had informed as many residents and businesses as possible. Portland State was included in the boil-water zone, and campus organizations made many efforts to notify students.
Students at Portland State received an alert via e-mail on Sunday afternoon from PSU Info—an e-mail account used to notify students of campus-wide matters—to not drink the water out of their tap.
However, the alert was sent out the day after Portland Water Bureau had set a “Boil Water Notice” into effect, and only a few hours before the notice was terminated.
The e-mail, although delayed, was only one aspect of notification efforts for students on campus.
“We put up notices, staff went door to door in the Residence Halls,” said Corey Ray, director of Residence Life.
“I had received a couple e-mails from students on Saturday night, asking if what they heard was true, and at that point we had already started our process,” Ray said.
Signs were also placed on water fountains around campus to prohibit students from drinking, though Facilities and Planning has since removed them.