Madison city officials are working to end a boil water advisory as soon as possible, but they are indicating it might be early next week before the advisory is lifted.
Mayor Paul Dean says the town was flushing its water lines as of late Wednesday afternoon and chlorine levels were approaching acceptable numbers. Dean also tells KVOE News Kansas Department of Health and Environment has shipped the town a special testing kit and eight samples will need to be collected and shipped back to KDHE for testing and analysis. As soon as results are approved by KDHE, the advisory is lifted.
Dean currently anticipates it could be Monday at the earliest for the boil water advisory to end, contingent to a degree on how fast the city can get its water samples back from testing.
Madison has been under a boil water advisory since mid-afternoon Tuesday after a construction incident as part of a culvert replacement project in and just west of the town.
Water handling steps can be found below, courtesy of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
*Boil water for one minute prior to drinking or food preparation or use bottled water.
*Dispose of ice cubes and do not use ice from a household automatic icemaker.
*If your tap water appears dirty, flush the water lines by letting the water run until it clears.
*Disinfect dishes and other food contact surfaces by immersion for at least one minute in clean tap water that contains one teaspoon of unscented household bleach per gallon of water.
*Water used for bathing does not generally need to be boiled. Supervision of children is necessary while bathing so that water is not ingested. Persons with cuts or severe rashes may wish to consult their physicians.
Significant water main breaks can lead to a loss of water pressure, which can in turn lead to a loss of chlorine residuals and thus an increased risk of bacterial contamination.
