(Santa Fe, NM) –The St. Johns Mobile Home Park with concurrence of the New Mexico Environment Department's (NMED) Drinking Water Bureau is lifting the "boil water advisory" for the St. Johns Mobile Home Park Water System located north of Las Cruces, New Mexico in Dona Ana County.

The St. Johns Mobile Home Park Water System issued the advisory on to their customers after a disruption in water service due to a line break as well as bacteriological contamination (Total & E. coli coliform) that was detected in a routine monitoring sample collected on November 13, 2013. The St. Johns Mobile Home Park Water System notified the water system consumers of this finding on November 14, 2013. St. Johns Mobile Home Park Water System serves approximately 430 residents.

The advisory only applied to customers served by the St. Johns Mobile Home Park Water System and did not extend to any of the other surrounding water systems or communities.

Consumers of water at the St. Johns Mobile Home Park Water System were advised to boil the water for five minutes before drinking, cooking, dishwashing and bathing. The presence of E. coli in water indicates that the water may have been in contact with sewage or animal wastes, and could contain disease-causing organisms. Most strains of E. coli are harmless and live in the intestines of healthy humans and animals. However, a positive test for E. coli in the drinking water supply had indicated the presence of dangerous strains of E. coli or other disease-causing organisms. These types of organisms could cause severe gastrointestinal illness and, in rare cases, death. Children, the elderly and immuno-compromised individuals are at an increased risk for illness.

The NMED Drinking Water Bureau provided technical assistance to the water system. The St. Johns Mobile Home Park Water System repaired the line break and determined that subsequent samples collected from the water system were negative for bacteriological contamination. The St. Johns Mobile Home Park Water System will maintain a regular monitoring schedule, as well as continue to test the distribution system for the presence of Total & E. coli coliform.

For more information, call NMED Communications Director Jim Winchester at (505) 231-8800 or Ray Melendrez, Drinking Water Bureau Area Supervisor, at (575) 647-7955.