Hourly Update

Tainted water pumped into TPD headquarters

A garden house mistakenly connected to hot-water boiler pumped tainted water into Tucson Police Department headquarters preventing the police from using the water fountains, sinks and showers since Friday. No police officers consumed or showered with the "black water," said Police Assistant Chief Sharon Allen, and city officials believe there was no wider contamination of the drinking water into the surrounding neighborhoods - Barrio Viejo and Barrio Santa Rosa. Because of problems with a portable boiler, which was temporarily being used to heat the building, the police had to postpone some DNA testing of evidence over the weekend because the temperature in the testing room were too unstable and could have affected the results, Allen said. The Pima County Health Department sent a letter to the city late Monday saying it found "no reason to restrict the use the internal water system" at the police department. Police Chief Richard Miranda said the department has no problem using the water in the future because he's been told it is now safe. He said other than using bottled water, the system shut down was a "minor inconvenience." Allen said the police used hand sanitizer in lieu of sinks and soap. The portable trailers were connected to Police and Fire headquarters so the city could begin repairing the 1,000-gallon-a-day water leak at the Tucson Convention Center found in late October. The leak was in the pipes between the TCC and the Police and Fire departments, said City General Services Director Ron Lewis. Lewis said on Friday a project coordinator in the facilities management department used a water hose to fill the portable boiler because he thought the boiler was low on water. Because the garden hose was connected to the wrong pipe in the water system, higher water pressure in the boiler caused the contaminated water to rush into the police headquarters. Tucson Water Spokesman Mitch Basefsky said if the water pressure would have been lower in the main water system, the contaminated water could have spread to the surrounding neighborhoods, but that didn't happen. Allen said officers were mildly alarmed when they saw black and rust-colored water in the station's toilets. Because it was only 9:30 a.m., Allen said few police officers had showered or drank the water on Friday. For more on this story, see Tuesday's Arizona Daily Star. Contact Star reporter Rob O'Dell at 573-4240 or Rodell@azstarnet.com