By Payton Tholstrup

According to a press release, The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has issued a boil water advisory for the city of Tescott on January 17th due to a public water system that is located in Ottawa County.

Customers should take the following precautions until further notice:

• 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 homemade ice maker.
• If your tap water seems dirty, flush the water lines by letting the water run until it clears.
• Disinfect dishes and surfaces that come into contact with food by immersing them for at least one minute in cleap tap water with one teaspoon of unscented household bleach per gallon of water.
• Water used for bathing does not generally need to be boiled; however, supervision of children is necessary while bathing so that water is not ingested.  Persons with cuts or severe rashes might want to consult with their doctor.

The advisory will remain in place until further notice. A break in the line resulted in a loss of pressure in the water system. Failure to maintain adequate pressure in a water system can result in a loss of chlorine and cause bacterial contamination.

Regardless of whether the public water supplier or Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) announced a boil water advisory, only KDHE can issue the rescind order following testing at a certified laboratory.

For consumer questions, please contact the water system at (785) 283-4337, or KDHE at (785) 296-5514.  For consumer information please visit KDHE’s PWS Consumer Information webpage: kdhe.ks.gov/waterdisruption.

Restaurants and other food establishments that have questions about the impact of the boil water advisory on their business can contact the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s food safety & lodging program at  kda.fsl@ks.gov or call (785) 564-6767.