MONITEAU COUNTY – The California mayor and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources say the town’s boil water order will end soon.
The DNR issued a boil water order for the California public water system on July 1. That was nearly a week ago, and some residents say they are growing uneasy.
The order came down after a positive E. coli test. This indicates that the city of California’s water could possibly be contaminated with waste, which could cause serious health problems for its residents. These problems include diarrhea, nausea and headaches.
The order will remain in place until all of the contamination is gone. To determine when the bad bacteria has been removed, the city of California and the DNR have to conduct two consecutive negative tests.
Mayor Richard Green believes the boil order will end Thursday.
“We took a test yesterday and today, and these tests take 24 hours for the results to come back. So, we’re getting yesterday’s results today, and today’s results tomorrow,” Green said. “If everything is clear, we will be out from underneath the boil order on Thursday. If we do have contamination somewhere, we’ll clear it up. But I don’t expect that to happen.”
Green said he understands the inconvenience and asks those who are getting uneasy to remain patient. He said he is proud of the way his town handled the boil order.
“Within one hour, we informed the town, all the television stations, radios and newspapers,” Green said. “We called everyone. We also got pallets of bottled water and delivered them to the nursing homes. Anyone who did not want to boil water was able to get bottled water, as well from the local churches.”
He said the reason the boil water order lasted so long was due to the DNR being closed on the weekends and on holidays. He said they could not begin testing for clean water until July 5.
The DNR confirmed that the boil order will likely be removed on Thursday. One DNR employee said to expect clean water in California by the weekend.
Nonprofit organization Well CaliMo said it is partnering with New Beginnings Church and Convoy of Hope to bring in 20 pellets of free water Thursday. Water can be picked up in the First Christian Church parking lot, located at 107 N. Oak. A time is to be announced, and the organization will post it on its Facebook page.
In the meantime, residents should take the following actions:
- Boil water for three minutes before drinking or cooking.
- Do not use ice from an automatic ice maker or any ice maker that uses unboiled water.
- Disinfect dishes and other food contact surfaces by immersing them in a teaspoon of bleach per gallon of clean water for at least one minute.
- Let water cool before drinking.
