Pond nearby mobile home park was polluted

Editor's note: The first paragraph of this news story was updated on Wednesday, August 22, to clarify that the polluted pond had since dried up following the tests.

BARSTOW — A small, now-dry pond close to a mobile park on Soap Mine Road has been found to contain high levels of coliform bacteria.

Test results from two water samples from a pond at the Hacienda Mobile Home Park show an excess of 160,000 units of the bacteria per 100 milliliters. The standard for clean drinking water is two units per 100 milliliters. However, the affected water is not drinking water.

The high levels of bacteria indicate human or animal waste in the pond, said Joe Koustky water resource control engineer with the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Sharon Thurston, the owner of the park, attributed the high coliform levels to a recent sewage spill caused by a broken septic pump, which has been repaired. She said the pond’s water has since dried up.

“We try very hard to keep a clean park, and we continue to try to do so,” she said. Thurston said she will work with the water board and the San Bernardino County Environmental Health department to ensure the park’s septic system is in code compliance. She said the park’s drinking water is absolutely safe.

“Our drinking water is city water,” she said.

Koustky said that the water board received an anonymous tip of a septic tank failure at the park and tested the pond, where sings were posted warning park residents to stay out of the pond.

The board recently ordered Thurston to perform further testing after elevated nitrate levels were detected in the groundwater. This testing will cover groundwater, not surface water, and will occur over the next several months, Koutsky said. He said the pond water and groundwater issues are not related.