TL;DR: Kalamazoo lifted a weekend boil water advisory Monday morning and city leaders planned a review of emergency water alert communications after about 30,000 homes and businesses were affected.

Advisory lifted Monday after weekend tests cleared

The City of Kalamazoo lifted its boil water advisory at 7 a.m. Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, after two consecutive rounds of testing found no detections of bacteria, according to reporting by Public Media Network.

The advisory had taken effect at 7 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, as a Tier 1 public notice covering 19 of the city's 22 neighborhoods along with parts of Portage, Comstock, Pavilion, and Cooper townships, according to Public Media Network.

City officials said the sequence began after a routine water sample from a tap on Miller Road tested positive for E. coli on Friday, Sept. 18, according to Public Media Network. A resample at that location came back negative the next day, but a separate sample taken on Emerald Drive near Homecrest tested positive for coliform bacteria, according to Public Media Network. Taken together, those results triggered the advisory.

Public Works Director James Baker said E. coli was never detected anywhere else in the system, including its more than 90 wells, 13 treatment plants, 11 water towers, roughly 800 miles of water main, and about 7,000 fire hydrants, according to Public Media Network. He said the one positive coliform detection did not reappear on resample, according to Public Media Network. As of the city's August report, staff had conducted 15,909 water quality analyses across 24 testing parameters, according to Public Media Network.

Kalamazoo utility officials still could not say for certain if there was a real threat to public health when they declared the advisory, but said they will do some things differently the next time, according to WKZO reporting.

Why officials say they had to act Saturday

Baker said the department had two bad tests in Milwood, one showing E. coli from a Miller Road hydrant on Friday and a second for coliform bacteria on nearby Emerald Drive early Saturday, according to WKZO reporting. At that point, he said, officials were compelled to act.

Follow-up tests at those two locations showed no problems, and the source of those contaminants remains a mystery, according to WKZO reporting. All other tests system-wide were fine, according to WKZO reporting.

Test results take 24 hours to come back, which Baker cited in response to why the advisory was issued Saturday when samples were taken Friday, according to reporting by News Channel 3 / WWMT.

The advisory was issued Saturday after the city received a positive water sample result, and the city says it began notifying the public that afternoon through news releases, social media, its website and other notification systems, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

City crews anticipated resolving the problem by Tuesday, Sept. 22, when the advisory was first announced Saturday, according to earlier reporting by News Channel 3 / WWMT. If all samples analyzed on Monday morning showed no detections, officials said Sunday they expected to lift the advisory Monday, according to reporting by News Channel 3 / WWMT. Samples taken on Sunday showed no detections of E. coli or coliform group bacteria, according to WMUK reporting.

How the city sent the weekend alert

The city notified residents through media releases, social media, its website, and direct outreach to schools, hospitals, dialysis providers, shelters, neighborhood associations, roughly 370 restaurants and food trucks, and large apartment complexes, according to Public Media Network.

More specifically, city officials also contacted schools, hospitals, dialysis providers, care facilities, neighborhood associations and large apartment complexes, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT. Through the Kalamazoo County Health Department, notifications were also sent to 369 fixed restaurant locations and 38 food trucks, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

Baker said officials followed normal procedures for spreading the word via press releases and social media and through community networks, according to WKZO reporting. He said they also got messages out to around 400 restaurants and food trucks, according to WKZO reporting.

One of the city's notification tools is RAVE, a public safety alert system that can send messages by phone or email, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT. Residents must sign up to receive RAVE alerts, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

Baker said the RAVE system was activated during the advisory and messages were sent to about 30,000 households within the affected water area, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT. The boil water advisory affected about 30,000 homes and businesses last weekend, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

Why the loud siren-style alert was not used

Baker said the city's Automated Public Address Warning System (APAWS) was not used because the boil water advisory did not meet the legal threshold for that system, which is intended for situations involving an immediate threat to life or health, such as severe weather emergencies, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

The advisory represented the lowest of three tiers of water safety warning under state rules, below a boil water order and a do-not-consume order, and the situation did not meet the legal threshold to trigger the state's emergency alert system, according to Public Media Network.

Kalamazoo uses three levels of water warnings, with a boil water advisory being the least serious, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT. A boil water order is issued for a more serious water concern, while a do not drink or do not use order is reserved for situations where boiling the water would not make it safe, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

The city has not had to issue that highest level of warning in this type of situation since the 2018 Parchment water crisis, when residents were told not to use their water because of PFAS contamination, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

Map language drew criticism from commissioners

Baker admitted the map of the impacted neighborhoods could have been better, according to WKZO reporting.

Commissioner Chris Praedel admonished him for using the terms "high and low pressure zones" to describe the impacted communities, instead of the names of their neighborhoods, according to WKZO reporting.

The boil water advisory applied only to those consuming water within the City of Kalamazoo's Low and High pressure districts, according to earlier reporting by News Channel 3 / WWMT. An interactive, searchable map was available online for anyone wanting to verify if their address was included in the advisory, according to reporting by News Channel 3 / WWMT.

The affected area included 19 out of 22 Kalamazoo neighborhoods, Portage north of I-94, and portions of Kalamazoo, Comstock, Cooper, and Pavilion townships, according to reporting by News Channel 3 / WWMT. It affected a large section of the city and parts of Kalamazoo Township, in addition to Western Michigan University's main campus, according to WMUK reporting.

City leaders were expected to discuss the issue Monday night, including possible ways to reach people more directly, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

Bakery closure shows business preparedness gap

Alec Wells, co-owner of Sarkozy Bakery, said he learned about the advisory Saturday afternoon through word of mouth from a co-worker with connections to the city, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

The bakery closed and reduced its offerings while employees tried to determine what could safely be prepared and served, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT. Wells said the biggest challenge was getting answers about food safety, commercial dishwashers and other business-specific concerns, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

"I would have loved to have been able to get in touch with a health department official, particularly on Saturday," Wells said, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

Wells said a direct text or phone alert from the city would not necessarily have changed the bakery's response time, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT. He said having someone available from the health department or state regulatory agencies to answer questions would have been more helpful, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

Businesses closed, restaurants threw out foodstuffs, plans were impacted and people were worried by the weekend advisory, according to WKZO reporting.

At Western Michigan University, dining facilities at the Student Center continued to be closed after the city advisory was lifted, with other dining services continuing to operate with some changes, according to WMUK reporting.

What the after-action review will cover

Baker said the investigation continues into the possible sources of the bad tests, and officials plan an after-action review meeting next week to review the incident, according to WKZO reporting.

The city's after-action review is scheduled for next week, according to Public Media Network. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is conducting its own assessment, expected to be complete by Oct. 19, according to Public Media Network. EGLE was giving city officials technical assistance during the advisory, according to reporting by News Channel 3 / WWMT.

In response to resident feedback about the notifications, Baker said the city plans to integrate its mapping system with its customer information system to enable direct text and email alerts in future events, using contact information collected from about 20,000 customers who updated their account records with the city over the summer, according to Public Media Network.

The city is now looking at ways to connect its geographic information system with customer billing information, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT. Baker said that could eventually allow the city to use customer phone numbers and email addresses to send more targeted notifications during future water advisories no matter the risk level, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

Flushing steps the city recommended after lifting

Baker is still recommending residents flush water heaters and icemakers just in case, according to WKZO reporting.

The city said if a residence is in the affected area, it is recommended to flush the water system by removing faucet aerators, running cold water faucets, cleaning and reinstalling the aerator, flushing water dispensers, discarding ice, running the water softener through regeneration, running hot water until cool, replacing filter cartridges, and running the dishwasher empty on the hottest setting, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT. Specific city guidance included running all cold water faucets for approximately five minutes, running at least a quart of water through water dispensers, running three cycles of fresh ice and discarding that ice for automatic ice makers, and flushing hot water for typically 15 minutes for a household with a 40-gallon hot water tank and 30 minutes if greater than 40 gallons, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

For humidifiers and devices such as CPAP machines, the city recommended discarding water used in the device, rinsing with clean water and sanitizing, sanitizing the humidifier and replacing the filter if it has one, following manufacturer instructions when using bleach or other cleaning products, using sterile water for CPAP machines and nebulizers, and following manufacturer guidelines for furnace humidifiers including replacing the humidifier pad if it cannot be disinfected, according to News Channel 3 / WWMT.

WMU was still recommending that those on its main campus continue to use bottled water or water that has been boiled for two minutes, until it has finished flushing water systems and replacing drinking fountain filters around campus, according to WMUK reporting.

City officials said customers should use bottled water or bring tap water to a rolling boil and boil for at least two minutes before using it for drinking, making ice, preparing food, brushing teeth, washing dishes, or other consumptive purposes during the advisory, according to earlier reporting by News Channel 3 / WWMT. There were no special precautionary measures for water used for bathing or showering, according to earlier reporting by News Channel 3 / WWMT.

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