19 January 2024
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Kansas health officials have cleared the last few residents of a boil water advisory impacting parts of Topeka and Shawnee County.
On Friday, Jan. 19, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) announced in a press release that the boil water advisory for the Shawnee County Rural Water District 1C and Metro Topeka Airport Authority public water supply systems is now ended. Lab testing results show no signs of bacteriological contamination and the issue which placed the water system at risk is now repaired.
The advisory was still in effect for some residents in the areas specified above for Friday following an earlier announcement from the KDHE that most Topeka residents would no longer have to boil their water. The advisory was initially announced on Sunday, Jan. 14 following the detection of a failure in the local water supply system.
City of Topeka staff found that a combination of low water levels in the Kansas River and extremely low temperatures led to increased strain on the local water system. City staff located a broken PVC gas pipe on the chlorine gas system that likely cracked because of low temperatures.
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