Eldon lifts four day long boil order, asks residents to flush water lines

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The city of Eldon lifted a four-day-long mandatory boil order Saturday morning, after routine testing found Total Coliform and E. coli in the water supply Tuesday.

The city started an emergency sanitisation process earlier this week, which uses chlorine to kill harmful bacteria.

Now that the boil order has been lifted, the city is asking residents to flush lines by running cold water for three to five minutes from any faucet used for drinking, throw out ice that was made with water before the boil order and replace or flush water filters.

This is the second time the city has found E. coli in its water within the past year. The city had a three-week-long boil order in late December.

What caused the bacteria to get into the water supply is still unknown.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has asked the city to prepare a permanent plan to prevent this from happening, which will need to be submitted to DNR for approval.

In an interview with ABC 17 News on Wednesday, the city administrator, Mandy Asbury, said the city is considering making a permanent chlorination system.