Eventually, the city did use social media, reverse 911, news media notification and sending “all hands on deck” door-to-door to notify residents.

“But the point is we could have done that sooner,” Ward said. “I failed in my duty in reaching some people. And that’s my responsibility.”

“I never was notified by the city,” complained resident Steven Fisch, similar to complaints many posted on social media. “I found out about it on Twitter on Saturday, from a news tweet by The Salt Lake Tribune.”

He lives in the area where water is now considered safe to drink. “The city never notified me about that either.”

Cydne Corlett first heard about problems on a Friday newscast. “So we had been drinking possibly contaminated water for a week,” a time when she and her husband had stomach cramps and unusual dry mouth.

She said a city worker finally knocked on her door Saturday. “They asked if I wanted a case of water. They said they didn’t have one, but they could mark down if we wanted one. I said this is ludicrous because we have now been drinking bad water for over a week.”

She said her family plans to get tested for contaminants, and she will probably have their dog tested also.

Kay Freeman said she also first heard of problems through a newscast Saturday. She did some research, and found recommendations to flush their water for an hour. “All of our sinks had a black residue after we did that,” she said.

She found the water could be dangerous for her horses, so her family had to lock them outside in the cold and away from an automatic watering system in their barn. She attempted to get water from the city in large containers, but found that wasn’t working. The city later sent a truck to deliver water for the horses.

At the Sunday news conference, Royal DeLegge, director of environmental health for the Salt Lake County Health Department, said about 90 people had reported health problems possibly related to the water, as had some dog owners about their pets.

“We’ve had a number of reports, mostly to Poison Control, of people who did suffer some symptoms, which are mostly are gastroenteritis [stomach flu], stomach cramping, pains, possibly vomiting … foul taste in the mouth.”

He added, “Those we understand have largely abated. They were very short term. We anticipate no long-term adverse impacts.”

Marie Owens, director of the Utah Division of Drinking Water, said some tests show that high levels of lead and copper — caused by fluoride corroding pipes — were found in some homes, but that Sandy City itself did not deliver any water contaminated with lead or copper.

The highest lead result seen from a home so far is 394 micrograms per liter; anything above 15 micrograms per liter is considered harmful enough to require remediation. For copper, a test found as much as 28,800 micrograms per liter and the action level is 1,300.

“We would consider those results to be significantly dangerous,” Owens said, but added officials don’t know exactly where such high levels may have occurred.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to know exactly what all of the homes were exposed to during the 44-hour timeframe that the fluoride event was happening. We can’t go back and retroactively sample that,” Owens said.

“What we do have are these two samples that indicate it could have been at least that high. We don’t know if those homes are representative of the entire zone,” she said, adding pipes in older homes were more susceptible to problems.

So, DeLegge said, “A subsequent sampling is being made for lead and copper at this point” in homes throughout the area. “However we think that the crisis is largely passed. It was very short term.”

Owens also said some tests had show elevated levels of arsenic, aluminum and magnesium, “but not significantly elevated levels” that exceeded safety limits.

Owens said all water tests taken Saturday in the area now cleared for use “came back well below the level of concern,” so officials are confident that water is now safe there. But they will continue to test and monitor in that area.

Her division expects soon to receive results from 163 tests taken in other areas where bans have not yet been lifted. “We will use that data to evaluate the status of when and if we can remove the do-not-drink order” there, she said.

“We just want to be cautious and make sure that we do not lift that before we have actual laboratory data to indicate that water is safe,” she said.