A Layton neighborhood's drinking water is safe again after officials removed a home's improper connection, which had allowed untreated water to flow into pipes for treated water.

The contamination made several people sick.

On Aug. 31, a water-meter reader noticed something wrong while reading a meter.

The city and the Davis County Health Department traced the source back to a valve the previous homeowner had installed, which connected the culinary water system with the secondary water system.

Delane McGarvey, environmental health director of the Davis County Health Department, said untreated water from the Weber River is sent through a secondary system for irrigation use.

He said such cases appear on average about once every other year.

McGarvey said there were four cases of giardia, which causes some people to feel queasy or have diarrhea.

"We try to educate the public that secondary water is not to fill swimming pools, it's not water to run through sprinklers with; children shouldn't be drinking it," he said.

Scott Sherman