The water at the Bureau of Indian Affairs Osage Agency in Pawhuska, Okla., tested positive for low levels of bacteria called legionella, known to cause Legionnaire’s disease. Due to a federally required test at the agency, the Nation’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) received the positive test results on the morning of March 7. In a rapid response, they worked together with the City of Pawhuska to “flush” the bacteria out of all faucets at and around the BIA office.
Legionella is most commonly found in faucets that are seldom used, according to DNR Director Craig Walker, who worked together to “flush” the water with chlorine with his team, including two environmental project specialists, Tom Ashmore and Cameron Chesbro, and one field inspector, Matthew Miller. The team collaborated with Pawhuska City Manager Jerry Eubanks to address the bacterial water problem.
“Legionella can source from a variety of spots … it can grow within stagnant water if they’re not using enough chlorine and legionella passes through the system,” Walker said. The legionella in the BIA’s water was an “isolated incident,” according to both Eubanks and Walker.
The legionella was “isolated at the two locations that tested positive … [and] the common practice … is to test the water lines to bring fresh water in, with proper concentrations of chlorine, to blow out all contaminated water that was within the system,” said Walker.
Chesbro, an environmental project specialist with DNR, noted that when water has been sitting stagnant, chlorine evaporates out of it, allowing the bacteria to grow. For that reason, the team added chlorine to the water to eliminate the bacterial concern at the BIA.
Walker’s team does not see any reason to test other locations within the City of Pawhuska for legionella because they have determined the cause of the bacteria in the BIA’s water was due to disuse of two faucets in the building.
Additionally, tests from the March 7 results indicated that a water fountain at the BIA was pumping lead water. “It has been removed,” said Walker, however, he added that lead is still a concern for the Osage Nation and its reservation.
Walker is looking to the city to address the lead concern, as they treat the water, he said.
Eubanks explained that after a 2023 detection of lead in Pawhuska water, the city began to add a polyphosphate water treatment which raises the water’s pH to 7.2 or higher, in order to prevent “leaching” of lead from old pipes into the water source. The polyphosphate also coats the lead pipes, helping protect the water in addition to stopping the “leaching.” As a result of that treatment, the city has passed all water tests since that 2023 failure, said Eubanks.
While the water is no longer contaminated due to leaching from old lead pipes, “flecks of lead” in water may remain a problem, Eubanks said.
Risks for more Legionella problems low
Legionella is not tested at the state level, and the CDC notes that the bacteria’s presence in pipes can grow due to “slow or no water movement,” as Walker attested, and also due to other causes such as “biofilm (slime that provides a place for germs to grow), certain temperatures, [and] not having enough disinfectant.” Legionella becomes a health concern in “showerheads and sink faucets, hot tubs, decorative fountains and water features, hot water tanks and heaters, … complex plumbing systems and cooling towers,” reads the CDC website. The bacteria does not pose a risk to health or lead to disease unless “it gets into building water systems and grows …”
While the risk of that is low, Walker recommends that residents avoid drinking or breathing in mist from water faucets that have been in disuse. Legionella is threatening to human health starting at measurements of 1 CFU/mL or greater. The BIA-site test results found .6 CFU/mL legionella present within the building.
To mitigate risk of spread—which occurs through breathing in mist or accidentally swallowing water into the lungs while drinking—the Nation and the City of Pawhuska checked and treated the water “upstream, downstream and behind” the BIA building at 813 Grandview Ave., Pawhuska. As a result, Walker and Eubanks conclude that the emergency has been resolved.
Tests for the bacteria are not required by the State of Oklahoma. “There’s nowhere in the State of Oklahoma that tests for legionella that I’m aware of so, it’s not a state required test that the rest of the towns and municipalities actually have to do,” said Walker. “This is a response to this BIA building,” said Walker, who eschewed any direct need to test in any other locations.
Lead issues
The Rural Water District 21 water west of Pawhuska is still on a boil order, and residents were recently without any water for two weeks, Walker said. “The tribe and constituents have assets in that area, and they are still under a boil order, and the water they are receiving is not getting treated at all,” he said, noting that lead is still present in this water as well as in Pawhuska.
Throughout all of Osage County, “lead is a major concern,” said Walker. Because water infrastructure throughout Osage County dates to the 1920s and 1930s, issues with lead cannot solely be resolved by mitigating water treatments like polyphosphate treatments.
Since 2023, the City of Pawhuska has had “elevated levels of lead in drinking water in some homes/buildings,” read a February 10 social media post by the Osage County Health Department, which received the lead results in January of 2024. The city failed to do public notice until February 10 “due to miscommunication” said Eubanks, but he said lead levels in water have been significantly reduced since the beginning of 2024, when they started adding the polyphosphate water treatment.
However, there is no known safe amount of lead ingestion for children or pregnant women. “Lead can cause serious health problems, especially for pregnant women and young children. Contact the Osage Health Department at (918) 287-3740 or your healthcare provider to find out how you can get your child tested for lead, if you are concerned about exposure,” the City’s release read.
Eubanks emphasized that lead can be present in water due to both household plumbing as well as service line pipes.
Over the next ten years, water systems across the country are required to identify and replace lead pipes, according to a rule from the EPA effective as of October 8, 2021. The deadline for replacing lead pipes is December 31, 2031, according to the EPA’s Final Lead and Copper Rule Improvements technical fact sheet.
The National Institute of Health found that reading scores as well as math scores are impacted by levels of lead found in blood. The EPA states, “Lead in drinking water irreparably harms the health of children and adults and disproportionately impacts lower-income communities of color. Legacy lead pipes, which have delivered drinking water to homes for decades, have exposed generations … to toxic lead and will continue to do so until they are removed.”
The City of Pawhuska is asking that if residents suspect there is lead in their home’s pipes – which Eubanks said is expected for any home built before the 1950s that has not been renovated – that they will urgently conduct a test and report confirmed lead tests to the city.
Residents can test their homes for lead using kits available online or by bringing water to a lab, such as Accurate Environmental Labs in Tulsa, where a lead test costs $40. To do so, bring at least 500 milliliters of water from the home – roughly equivalent to a 16-ounce bottle of water – to the lab. The test takes five to ten business days. Those interested can contact the lab with any questions at (918) 663-5400.
