Nitrate poses a danger to infants and pregnant women but is not considered a hazard for most adults. The same well serves Chino Institution for Men and the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility. Since the facilities have only male inmates, the well water is still in use, prison representatives said. Notices are posted at the prisons advising that pregnant women and children under age 6 could be at risk from the tap water, officials at the prisons said.
Bottled water is available for visitors.
A broken well is causing the problem, according to state health officials. A main at the men's prison well that serves all three facilities is down for repairs, forcing the institutions to tap into wells with higher nitrate contents, said Kalyanpur Baliga, a senior engineer with the state department of Health Care Services drinking water program. Tom Padilla, a spokesman for the men's prison. At the women's prison, authorities took the extra step of issuing bottled water for all 1,900 inmates and 600 employees. Robert Sebald, a prison spokesman.