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The Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority is taking steps to assure area residents that water they will soon be drinking is free from contaminants.

The utility on Tuesday enlisted outside experts to review its water treatment operations, and took samples of its treated river water to be sent to independent laboratories for testing.

"Our air and our water should never be a political toy," said Deanna Archuleta, a Bernalillo County commissioner and chairwoman of the water utility. "We want to make sure folks understand that their health and welfare is our first priority."

The need for such measures arose after recent news reports brought to light contaminants found floating in water bottled by the utility. The bottling program was meant to promote the switch to river water as the region's drinking water source.

John Stomp, the utility's water resources manager, said two samples of the bottled water were tested at a San Diego microbiology lab. One showed signs of yeast; the second sample found no contaminants.

Stomp, speaking at the utility's pilot water treatment plant along the Rio Grande near Alameda Boulevard Northwest, said officials strongly believe any contamination happened in the bottling process, and not during the utility's water treatment process.

The utility produced 910,000 bottles of treated river water in its public relations effort, but ceased the program once it heard of the contaminants, leaving around 30,000 bottles undistributed, officials said.

"We still believe this is a product of the bottling process," Stomp said.

The utility hopes to show that the treated water that will be piped into homes is contaminant-free.

In an attempt to prove its case, the utility on Tuesday took samples of its treated river water to send to microbiology labs in San Diego and Phoenix to test for contaminants. The results will be available in about two weeks, Stomp said.

Also, the utility enlisted the help of Kerry Howe, an environmental engineering professor from the University of New Mexico, and Bill Bellamy, a water treatment expert with the engineering firm CH2M Hill, who helped design the massive water treatment plant at Renaissance Center near Mission Road and Alexander Boulevard Northeast. The plant is set to open by year's end.

Howe was asked to review the utility's surface-water treatment process. He said he plans to issue a report in about two weeks.

Bellamy was asked to conduct a plant design and process review.

Both Howe and Bellamy on Tuesday said their initial inspections of the water treatment process showed "nothing out of the ordinary."

Stomp acknowledged that the utility's typical contaminant test doesn't necessarily spot the yeast found in the bottled water. But he said it's the utility's responsibility to test for it in the future, even if the problems originated in the temporary bottling process.

"I think we're going to have a responsibility to follow this up," he said.