Some residents in North Bend are being told to not drink their tap water after someone broke into a water tower owned by Sallal Water Association.
Investigators are looking for the person who climbed over a locked, barbed-wire fence, then vandalized the water tower at Mt. Si Road and 480th Avenue Southeast.
“Certainly someone went up there with some tools and was able to cut a lock off, cut cables, do some damage. That in and of itself is a little disconcerting to us,” said Bob James, with the WA Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water.
The lock that person cut off was to the hatch that accesses the drinking water inside.
The King County Sheriff’s Office said a hiker noticed someone up on the tower Wednesday, got suspicious, and reported it.
A Sallal employee came to check and found the damage, as well as another unidentifiable substance.
“The worker noticed a lot of little white pellets in the area and got suspicious and took some for evidence,” said Ryan Abbott, with the King County Sheriff’s Office. The employee also reported it to the sheriff’s office.
After preliminary testing, Abbott said Thursday that investigators believe the pellets are biodegradable airsoft BBs.
Sallal says as a precaution, its testing for contamination and flushing the water from this tank.
The tower serves 82 homes (officials initially said the tower served 175 homes, but revised that number). Sallal issued a "do not drink" order for people impacted after making the discovery. The order is expected to be in place until Saturday, while testing is completed.
People who live in the area say there should be measures to prevent this type of crime.
“Seems like you ought to be able to lock an entrance to the tower, access to the tower, and secure it in a way you can pretty much guarantee no one is getting in there,” said Andrew Heintz, who lives in North Bend. “I don't want us to turn into a police state for all intents and purposes, but something like a water source should be protected and secured,” he said.
The Office of Drinking Water with the DOH is helping Sallal with testing to make sure the water is clean.
The DOH does regular resting of facilities every three to five years, but told KIRO7 it does not regulate security.
“Is there a department that mandates a certain level of security for water systems?” KIRO7’s Deedee Sun asked.
“A number of years ago, there was a requirement that all systems that serve 3,300 people and more were required to do a vulnerability analysis,” James said.
James said that requirement was put in after 9-11. Basically, water systems had to look at their entire process from source, to storage, to distribution, and figure out what was vulnerable. Then they and to come up with a plan to fix it.
After that, they were required to certify to the EPA they did that analysis.
“But for security reasons, those weren't shared or made public knowledge,” James said. “These are internal documents and we don't really have access to what they actually said they would do,” he said.
The level of security found at the vandalized North Bend tower had a barb-wire fence that was locked, plus a lock on the access hatch at the top.
“It’s pretty typical for what a lot of our water systems have,” James said.
He added that security can vary greatly, and some larger water systems do have security measures like motion sensors or surveillance cameras.
The DOH said it’s up to the water system - whether that's a city or a company - to decide how much security is necessary.
As far as exactly what happened in North Bend, the sheriff’s office is still investigating and working with the FBI to determine the level of maliciousness behind the crime.
“It’s not something we take lightly. It’s something we're extremely serious about,” Abbott said.
KIRO7 reached out to Sallal Thursday afternoon to ask if it would tighten its security after the incident but they did not respond by the publication of this story.
The DOH said its crews were able to check bottom of the water tank for any contamination and did not see physical evidence of pellets or anything else, but testing on the water would ensure nothing else unsafe was put into the water while the hatch was open.
Some residents in North Bend are being warned not to drink their tap water on Wednesday after someone broke into the water tower and vandalized it Tuesday, contaminating the water supply, deputies said.
The incident is affecting the water supply of 175 homes only in the Sallal Water Association.
King County Sheriff's Sgt. Ryan Abbott told KIRO 7 several locks were cut inside of the tower on Mt. Si Road and 480th Avenue Southeast. Power was also cut off to some parts of the tower.
The water is currently being tested.
The FBI will join King County deputies in the investigation to determine whether the water was poisoned.
This story has been updated. Authorities clarified that no pellets were found in the water tank.
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