As a boil water advisory for Humboldt was lifted late Friday afternoon a new boil advisory was issued Saturday for parts of Bourbon County including Uniontown and Fort Scott. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment lifted the Humboldt advisory after laboratory testing confirmed no presence of contamination after a large water line break Wednesday caused a loss of pressure in the distribution system.
The new advisory issued Saturday covers the City of Fort Scott, Bourbon Co RWD 2C, and City of Uniontown public water supply systems located in Bourbon County. It was issued after a waterline break in Fort Scott’s distribution system, which supplies RWD 2c, which in turn supplies water to Uniontown.
The rural water district serves all but the northwest part of Bourbon county, along with small parts of Crawford. Linn and Neosho counties. Two communities, Fulton and Prescott, are excluded from the advisory as they are also connected to another water source
Customers should observe 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 household automatic icemaker.
If your tap water appears dirty, flush the water lines by letting the water run until it clears.
Disinfect 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.
Water used for bathing does not generally need to be boiled. Supervision of children is necessary while bathing so that water is not ingested. Persons with cuts or severe rashes may wish to consult their physicians.
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 City of Fort Scott water system at 620-223-5160, or Bourbon Co RWD 2C water system at 620-223-1110, or the city of Uniontown water system at 620-756-4742, or KDHE at 785-296-5514. For consumer information please visit KDHE’s PWS Consumer Information webpage:
https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/468/Disruption-in-Water-Service
