Reports that the state finds El Dorado Irrigation District's drinking water system primitive outdated and an avenue for hazardous pollutants sent El Dorado County residents scrambling for more information. The message that pregnant, elderly and sick residents should boil their water or buy it bottled was buried in fine print in the 28,000 notices mailed to EID customers. Dozens of residents called EID offices, after The Bee, a local newspaper obtained a copy of a state report showing photographs of manure piles, animal carcasses, mats of algae and other contaminants in and near EID's open reservoirs. "That article made me a firm believer that I'm not crazy," said Sue Reimer, who was seven months pregnant in 1996 when she was diagnosed with giardia, a water-borne virus that causes intestinal problems. The El Dorado engineer said she was drinking only EID water -- and lots of it, at her doctor's suggestion.

There's no confirmed connection between EID's water and illness in El Dorado County, county officials say. The problem at EID, state health officials say, is that after the district filters water drawn from the American River, it stores the water

A flier titled "EID News from the Water Front" was mailed to all customers and sent home with school children, Hetland said. But several residents said they either didn't notice it or didn't realize its significance. The warning about boiling water appeared on the third page. To back up its enforcement order, the Department of Health Services prepared a vividly photographed report that didn't circulate much beyond the EID board of directors. It shows bird droppings, dead frogs and birds, beer bottles, the footprints of human swimmers, runoff from horse and cattle pastures, and animal skeletons in the reservoirs. "If an infected cow, while grazing, defecates into the drinking water stored in this reservoir," states the caption to one photo in the report", the water becomes contaminated with literally millions of Cryptosporidium organisms."

Joyce, Matt "Upgrading 11 EID reservoirs means 25% higher rates"

William Hetland, EID general manager, said the district hasn't ignored the problem of covered reservoirs. Several years ago, he said, it began buying rubberized membrane covers for the reservoirs. Seven had already been installed when, in July, the California Department of Health Services ordered the district to either build steel tanks or put concrete lids on all of its reservoirs. The rubber covers, the state decided after a 1997 investigation, allow too much contamination of treated water by animals, vegetation and rain.

reat all our water. ... They told me I was crazy." Other EID customers say they're regular drinkers of bottled water. "We haven't drunk any of that water for four or five years," said Wave Baxter of Diamond Springs, whose groceries at a Placerville Lucky store included a large bottle of water. "The last time I set a glass on the container and turned around to look the bottom was full of sand." But

Some common words found in the essay are:
Placerville Lucky, Health Services, Dorado County, El Dorado, Tahoe EID, Raymond Larsen, American River, Water Front, Hetland EID, Irrigation District's, el dorado, dorado county, el dorado county, water reservoirs, eid water, water districts, department health services, health standards, illness people, treated water, american river, bottled water,
Approximate Word count = 1253
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)