USC urges students not to drink water yet, as boil-water advisory lifted

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Peggy Pilley of Fort Mill got a disturbing text message Tuesday from her son at the University of South Carolina.

"He was talking about people throwing up and getting sick, and it concerned me," Peggy Pilley said.

After catastrophic flooding, students at the University of South Carolina went back to classes Monday, following a week off. However, the water on campus is still unsafe to drink.

Peggy Pilley thinks the university called students back to class too early.

"Students don't know about serious diseases, and they'll use the water anyway," she said.

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Her son, Weston, said there's plenty of bottled water around, but it's easy to forget safety when you're on a routine.

"You just turn on the faucet to go put your tooth brush in and brush your teeth, and you remember 'crap' I’m not supposed to get this water in my mouth," he said.

Weston Pilley lives on campus where there are bio-hazard warnings covering the water fountains, and notices on doors telling students to boil water, and not brush their teeth with it.

"Some of my friends have been throwing up after drinking the water, and other people have been getting diarrhea," Weston Pilley said.

University spokesman Wes Hickman told Channel 9 that USC has not seen an increase in illnesses reported on campus.  He said the right decision was made to resume classes Monday.

"We are very confident in our decision to resume classes. A week off already was extremely disruptive. To carry it out longer would have been even more so," Hickman said.

Late Wednesday, the boil-water advisory was lifted for the city of Columbia, including the university. Officials urged students not to drink the water anyway until the system has been completely purged.

There was no time table given on how long that process would take.

Officials said students should continue to drink bottled water, and use it for teeth brushing, until further notice.

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