UPDATE: Water found clean following Dietrich hazmat situation

(KMVT)
Published: May. 25, 2018 at 5:57 PM MDT
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UPDATE: The drinking water ban in Dietrich was lifted Saturday morning, after the Department of Environmental Quality's results came back clean.

"DEQ came back with a negative on the nitrates in the water system in Dietrich," said Lincoln County Emergency Manager Payson Reece. "As of this morning I have not heard anything from the results of the bacteria test, but everything else looks pretty clean," said Reece.

Dietrich Mayor Don Heiken told KMVT a boil order is in effect as a precaution until they receive the final results on Monday or Tuesday.

The city has alerted residents about turning the water back on and drinking water is available at their fire station.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Residents in Dietrich are dealing with a

after a hazardous material incident Thursday, and court documents say a former city worker who was found dead at a residence on Thursday was arrested two weeks prior.

Roy McClure, a resident, said he's been living in the city for more than 60 years. McClure said he just heard about the a possible water contamination by word of mouth and calling around.

"I was wondering what the hell's going on," he said. "I wasn't too concerned because there were all sorts of deals with water systems and stuff throughout the Magic Valley."

Barbara Hinther, another resident, said she was notified by phone.

"I picked it up and it was a recording," she said.

Lincoln County Emergency Manager Payson Reese said they followed procedure and called Southern Idaho Regional Communications to get the word out.

"The mayor was concerned about the water system. He actually shut down the water, " Reese said. "As that happened, we put in a notification system to SIRCOMM, a CAN. system into SIRCOMM to alert people that the water would be shut down and not drink it until further notice."

The

, is SIRCOMM's alert system. Reese said some residents in Shoshone received the automated message along with residents in Dietrich.

"If they didn't get the word, we did make an investigation of why that happened. We talked to SIRCOMM's director," he said. "More likely they are not registered with the reverse 911 and need to go into the

."

According to the Associated Press, Mayor Don Heiken said Tom Young, 62, was found dead Thursday. Heiken said he fired Young earlier in May.

Court documents say Young was arrested at 288 South, 950 East just two weeks prior, after an argument at Dietrich City Hall. Young was due to appear in court Thursday.

He was arrested for battery, robbery and communication interference with a 911 call.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.