Silver Lake prepares for first day of school amid water advisory

SILVER LAKE (KSNT) – Those in the town of Silver Lake are asked to boil their tap water Tuesday night over safety concerns. The timing certainly isn’t ideal, as school is set to start the following morning.

Talk to anyone that works in education, and they’ll tell you one of the most important skills to have is adaptability. That’s what Silver Lake schools will have to utilize heading into day one of the 2023 school semester.

Early Tuesday morning, crews replaced a fire hydrant on Gemini street, cutting off water to the entire town. Because of the risk of bacterial contamination caused by the loss of pressure, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued a boil water advisory for the city. People in the affected area should boil water for a t least one minute before drinking and cooking, or use bottled water.

The advisory comes as Silver Lake elementary, middle, and high school students are set to begin their semester bright and early Wednesday morning. 27 News met up with the Silver Lake Superintendent of Schools for the district’s reaction.

Of course, they weren’t expecting the water to go out the day before school starts, but they’re employing that adaptability well. Food service and custodial staff have been alerted, with strong backup plans in place to make it through the day.

“If we needed to, we would shut down maybe our water fountains and those kinds of things, where kids couldn’t drink from the water fountain and provide some bottled water,” Silver Lake Superintendent of Schools Brad Womack said. “Ultimately as long as we have running water it should not impact the start of school too much. We just may have to make a couple of adjustments throughout the day.” 

KSNT 27 News spoke with KDHE Tuesday afternoon, they expect the boil advisory to continue through tomorrow. If you’re getting your kids ready for their first day back to class tomorrow health officials say water used for bathing does not generally need to be boiled, but you should supervise smaller children to ensure they don’t ingest it.

Thankfully, running water itself isn’t an issue anymore for the city, a clerk worker told 27 News the water turned back on around 12:30 on Tuesday.