When Julie Wilson saw the warning that Jackson residents needed to boil their tap water Thursday evening, one thought sent her toward the grocery store.
By Friday morning, the disruption stretched well beyond her kitchen. All Teton County School District schools were closed, local cafes had shut their doors, and residents were rethinking everything from brushing their teeth to making breakfast after E. coli was detected in untreated water from a town well.
The Environmental Protection Agency mandated a boil-water advisory for Jackson and every water system supplied by the town until further notice, the town announced Thursday. Customers were instructed to boil water for at least three minutes or use bottled water.
Town of Jackson External Affairs Director Susan Scarlata confirmed Friday that E. coli was found in untreated water.
For Wilson, who has lived in Jackson since 1980, the warning meant a stop at Albertsons, two cases of water and a delivery to a friend who needed enough to get through the night.
“Everybody had that deer in the headlights look, like, 'Oh my god,' but everybody was nice to each other,” she told Cowboy State Daily.
A Rush For Water
Wilson was finishing work a couple of blocks from Albertsons when she saw the advisory shortly after 5 p.m. She texted her husband a picture of the notice, locked up the office and headed to the store.
Parking was available, but she could tell people were moving quickly. Inside, fewer shopping carts were available than she usually sees after work.
She took an aisle that would loop around toward the water and heard employees unwrapping a fresh pallet. The sound of plastic coming off and shoppers talking drew her over.
A few people filled their carts, she said, but most took one or two cases or what they could carry. When she later checked the water aisle, it was nearly empty.
“It wasn’t crazy. People weren’t being crazy,” Wilson said.
She also cautioned against assuming that anyone with a full cart was hoarding. They might have been buying for a business or other people, she said.
Wilson bought two cases with her neighbors in mind. Some might not make it to the store, and she wanted enough to share. She took a couple of bottles to a friend living at Pioneer Homestead to help her through the night.
No Water, No Coffee Shop
For Hayden Callegan, a manager at Cowboy Coffee Co. in Jackson Hole, hearing about the advisory set off an immediate operational checklist: Dump the ice, change the water filters and figure out what it meant for the shop’s entire water system.
“Obviously it’s very disruptive for a business that operates almost entirely on water,” he said.
The shop was closed Friday, and Callegan expected it to remain closed as long as the advisory was in effect. Without a clear reopening date, the uncertainty was frustrating for employees and customers alike, he said.
A local resident, Callegan said he and his wife were fortunate to have a few gallons of water at home and a stove to boil more. He worried about tourists and other visitors staying somewhere without a stove, leaving them fewer options.
The disruption also reached schools outside of Jackson.
Teton County School District canceled classes at all its schools Friday, explaining that the advisory affected transportation, families with children at multiple schools and food service. Schools in town prepare meals for schools outside Jackson, the district said in a notice posted by Charlotte Reynolds.
“We apologize for the impact to families,” the notice states.
District leaders planned to meet Friday morning and update families about further impacts if the advisory continued.
Rethinking The Faucet
Back at Wilson’s east Jackson home, the hardest adjustment was remembering how often she reached for the tap without thinking.
Before band rehearsal Thursday night, she went to brush her teeth and turned on the bathroom faucet.
“Oh, I can’t do that,” she recalled thinking.
She shut it off and fetched a bottle of water.
“I mean, it’s just the little things that you do like in a regular day that you don’t think about,” Wilson said. “You now have to think about.”
By Friday morning, she had two big pots of water on her stove.
Elsewhere, Dornan’s offered a place for people to replenish their supplies for free. The business said it is not connected to Jackson’s water system and invited anyone needing to fill jugs or bottles to use the spigot at its Chuckwagon.
“Please be patient and considerate of each other,” the business wrote.
Element Plumbing JH announced it would offer free UV-disinfected water from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at its shop in Jackson, while urging residents to continue following town and public health guidance.
Personal trainer Ava Kelly said she planned to visit a Costco in Idaho on Friday to fill a 6-by-12-foot trailer with water to distribute, and people had already begun reaching out to her.
"We're purchasing enough bottled water for about 80 people, along with a few other items that may be helpful," she said in a message to Cowboy State Daily.
Until Further Notice
Although Scarlata identified the bacteria as E. coli and specified that it was found in untreated water, the cause of the contamination remained unclear. The town’s public notice did not name the affected well.
Jackson Mayor Arne Jorgensen and Teton County Environmental Health Manager Ryan Hannan did not respond to Cowboy State Daily’s requests for comment.
The advisory applies to all customers receiving town water, including those beyond Jackson’s boundaries.
Those include Saddle Butte subdivision, 3 Creek Ranch, Jackson Hole Classical Academy, Jackson Hole High School, Teton Science School’s Coyote Canyon location, the county’s Search and Rescue building and several properties on West Dairy Lane, West Boyles Hill Road and West Red House Drive.
The town said water samples take 18 to 24 hours to incubate and process. Lifting the advisory requires two consecutive days of clean test results and an official announcement.
Public health questions can be directed to the Environmental Health Office. The town asked people not to call 911 with questions about the advisory.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
