A drinking water warning has been issued for an area of Florida that includes former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club.
The Town of Palm Beach shared an alert online Thursday warning residents, including Trump and others at Mar-a-Lago, that its water supply was having issues with cloudiness, or "turbidity."
While noting that "turbidity does not cause health effects," residents were warned that infants, pregnant people, the elderly and those with "a severely compromised immune system" should avoid the water.
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"You may be at increased risk and should seek advice from your healthcare providers about drinking this water," the alert states.
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The water cloudiness is believed to have been caused by a water treatment issue in City of West Palm Beach, which supplies Palm Beach with all of its public drinking water.
It was unclear whether or not the water supply at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump has officially resided since 2019, was experiencing turbidity.
Newsweek reached out for comment to The Trump Organization via email on Friday afternoon.
According to the City of West Palm Beach, the issue is "not an emergency" and was detected during routine sample testing this month.
"Water samples for July show that more than 5 percent of turbidity measurements as of July 8, 2024, were over 0.3 turbidity units – the standard is that no more than 5 percent of samples may exceed 0.3 turbidity units per month," the city's website states.
Vulnerable groups were warned to avoid the water because "turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth," potentially indicating "the presence of disease-causing organisms."
"These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches," according to the city.
Regardless of the potential for contamination, the city said that disinfection systems to treat the water and eliminate potential pathogens "remain fully operational."
Palm Beach Town Council member Lew Crampton told The Palm Beach Daily News on Friday that officials were hoping to convince the City of West Palm Beach to acquire water treatment technology that may eliminate the issue, or potentially make a deal for Lake Worth Beach to supply Palm Beach water.
"The council is going to be insisting upon a technology that hopefully will not result in the creation of that kind of turbidity, because it's RO [reverse osmosis] technology," Crampton said. "As a matter of how the facility is operated, we do have to be concerned about it.
"But there was notice, and the matter is being taken care of. I'm still confident that we can work something out either with West Palm Beach or with Lake Worth Beach in the months to come."
A contract is in place for Palm Beach to continue receiving its water supply from West Palm Beach until 2029.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
