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The recommendation to boil drinking water in the City of Tekamah has been lifted.
Water department head Tony Daugherty told the Plaindelaer Thursday afternoon that a second set of water samples submitted to the state lab on Tuesday had come back negative. A set of samples sent Monday also were all negative.
The advisory was issued Sunday following a drop in water pressure in the city’s system following a water main break.
Daugherty said Thursday that because the original declaration was an advisory, not an order, city protocols do not require more expansive communication techniques. Residents are simply asked to spread the word. Had an “order” been issued, the city would have used the news media to disseminate appropriate information.
The water main, located near 20th and West P streets broke Sunday afternoon, sending water geysering about four feet into the air, Daugherty said.
The city’s water tower has been shut down since Sept. 28 for maintenance. Daugherty said with the tower shut down, the city has been pumping water into the system directly from its wells. But when the main broke, the system couldn’t keep up.
The main had been repaired by late Sunday, but two rounds of testing are required before the situation could get back to normal. Daugherty drove 10 water samples to the state lab in Lincoln Monday morning for testing. The second set went Tuesday.
But until results from the tests were known, city residents were advised to boil their drinking water to make sure it wasn’t contaminated by bacteria, viruses or other contaminants. Although the chances of becoming ill from drinking water that hadn’t first been boiled were slim, residents were advised to see their doctor if they experience diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or abdominal cramps.
That made for a tense few days. Save More Market in Tekamah reopened for an hour Sunday afternoon to make drinking water available to their customers. The store’s supply was rapidly purchased and a second supply was received Tuesday.
Kristen Ketelsen, manager at Tekamah’s Dollar General store also reported heavy business for bottled water.
Homes with reverse osmosis purification systems do not need to boil their water, but typical filtration systems will not remove any bacteria that may be present. Public health officials recommend replacing the filter media in filtration and purification systems. As an extra precaution, appliances hooked up to the water system also should be drained and cleaned and any filters replaced. For example, if the refrigerator is hooked up to the water system, throw out all the ice in the ice maker, run the water dispenser for 3 to 5 minutes to flush the system, let the ice maker run for an hour and then throw out the new ice and, finally, wash and sanitize the bins. An empty cycle should be run through the dishwasher and owners should check the color of the water in the washing machine before using it. A regeneration cycle also should be run on water softeners.
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