Kansas state health officials gave Wichita the okay to lift a boil water advisory for its residents, roughly 36 hours after it began.
Officials with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment made the decision Thursday afternoon after 195 samples from the city's water system showed no sign of elevated bacteria levels or contamination. That ends more than a day of water restrictions for residents of Wichita and parts of Andover — but not for the city's wholesale water customers.
All told, Wichita's system provides water for roughly 1 in 6 Kansans in agreements that bring the city's drinking water into Rose Hill, Park City, Benton, Derby, Valley Center, Bel Aire, Kechi and Sedgwick Country Rural Water District 1, 2 and 3.
During a press conference Thursday evening, Wichita's Director of Public Works and Utilities Gary Janzen said the city had collected water from the city pipes near the connection point to the neighboring communities. Those samples came back clean, but state officials are having the communities collect their own water samples from their own pipes for testing.
Those samples will need to be collected, sent to a lab and cultured over 24 hours before a determination is made about the boil water advisory in those communities.
The boil water advisory began Wednesday morning after the city's water treatment plant and pump station lost power, causing a temporary water pressure loss through much of the city.
Janzen said that whenever pressure in a municipal water system drops below 20 psi, the state triggers an automatic boil water advisory.
The city advises that residents run their pipes for a period of time before beginning to use their taps again. Janzen said it’s best to run each faucet on cold and wait until there’s a noticeable change in the water temperature before drinking. Flushing the pipes will clear the system of stagnant water.
