Cities of Allen and Admire placed under boil water advisory

A boil water advisory has been issued for portions of northern Lyon County.

Specifically, the cities of Allen and Admire are in the advisory that was issued Wednesday morning, with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment saying the advisory’s issuance came as a result of the cities being unable to maintain the minimum required chlorine residual.  Failure to maintain the optimum residuals may put the entire water system at greater risk of bacterial contamination.

The advisory can only be rescinded by KDHE once the issue has been resolved and test samples show no signs of bacterial contamination.  In the meantime, residents are encouraged to take several steps to ensure their water is safe before use, including:

• Boiling water for one minute prior to drinking or food preparation or using bottled water.
• Disposing of ice cubes and not using ice from a household automatic icemaker.
• Flushing water lines if water appears dirty by letting the water run until it clears.
• Disinfecting 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.

Admire Mayor Ron Smith declined a recorded interview at this time, but told KVOE News that tests have been sent off to labs in Topeka as of Wednesday morning.  Smith also stated there was still information to be gathered; however, the low chlorine residuals did become apparent by late last week.

KVOE News has reached out to the City of Allen for comment.