Water outage: What to do if you drank the water

DAYTON — Anyone who becomes ill as a result of the Montgomery County water outage likely won’t develop symptoms for a day or two.

Stomach issues would be the most common symptom people may notice, said Thomas Krzmarzick, division chief of emergency medicine at Dayton Children’s Hospital.

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“The biggest concern is that you’re going to get some type of bacteria or germs that’s mainly going to cause (gastrointestinal) symptoms,” Krzmarzick said.

Most children who fall ill won’t need to see a doctor and will likely feel better within a few days, Krzmarzick said. Children who are completely unable to keep food down or if blood becomes present in their stool, Krzmarzick said that’s when it’s time to get them to a pediatrician or emergency department.

“Once you hear that there’s a boil advisory, what you need to do is first of all don’t drink your tap water...For smaller children you don’t want to bathe them because sometimes they’ll drink the water,” Krzmarzick said.

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Dayton Children’s was not impacted by the water outage but officials there took precautions when they learned of the water issues Wednesday night.

A call to city officials revealed that Dayton Children’s was not impacted by the crisis, said John Williamson, director of facility engineering for Dayton Children’s. But, out of an abundance of caution, hospital officials at first turned off drinking fountains and posted signs warning people.

“We wanted to make sure we’re not getting any contaminated water out to our patients,” Williamson said.