TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) rescinded the boil water advisory for Ottawa at about 10 a.m. Thursday, according to a press release.
KDHE officials issued the advisory for Ottawa Tuesday afternoon because compressed air entered the distribution system during maintenance on the irrigation system at the high school, 1120 S. Ash St., Ottawa, which puts the system at risk for contamination, a press release said.
Failure to maintain adequate pressure may result in a loss of chlorine residuals and bacterial contamination.
Laboratory testing samples collected from the system indicate no evidence of contamination and all other conditions that placed the system at risk of contamination are deemed by KDHE officials to be resolved, the release said.
Regardless of whether it’s the supplier or KDHE that announces a boil water advisory, KDHE will issue the rescind order following testing at a certified laboratory.
This was the second boil water advisory for Ottawa in the past 14 months.
Both times, Ottawans were scrambling for bottled water.
Ottawa University brought in 15,000 bottles of water for their students and staff, while the Ottawa school district purchased between 8,000 and 10,000 bottles and distributed them to the schools before 8 a.m. Wednesday.
A Price Chopper manager said the store sold out of bottled water by Wednesday morning and did not receive another shipment until Thursday morning.
Starbucks, located in the Price Chopper, shut down Tuesday afternoon until the advisory was lifted Thursday morning.

Medford, Ore. — Approximately 10 Medford homes are still under a boil advisory after a water line break off Highway 62.
Patrick McConnell, who lives on one of those streets, says he’s thankful to hear his water is now safe to drink.
“Relief, I suppose.
But it’s always good to be safer than sorry.
McConnell says he bought bottled water after hearing about the advisory Wednesday night.
He says he was surprised to get the notice for his home, but he’s heard of it happening before with all the construction in the area.
The Medford Water Commission says it will inform the public when tests show no bacteria and you no longer need to boil your water.
Staff is working as quickly and efficiently as possible, but it may be as long as 24-36 hours before test results are available.
The full extent of this notice and the customers impacted is not yet known.
To limit risk to health, customers should follow the instructions contained in this advisory.

Medford, Ore. — Approximately 10 Medford homes are still under a boil advisory after a water line break off Highway 62.
Patrick McConnell, who lives on one of those streets, says he’s thankful to hear his water is now safe to drink.
“Relief, I suppose.
But it’s always good to be safer than sorry.
McConnell says he bought bottled water after hearing about the advisory Wednesday night.
He says he was surprised to get the notice for his home, but he’s heard of it happening before with all the construction in the area.
The Medford Water Commission says it will inform the public when tests show no bacteria and you no longer need to boil your water.
Staff is working as quickly and efficiently as possible, but it may be as long as 24-36 hours before test results are available.
The full extent of this notice and the customers impacted is not yet known.
To limit risk to health, customers should follow the instructions contained in this advisory.

TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNW) – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has issued a boil water advisory for the public water supply Butler CO RWD 3 and Public Wholesale Water District 8 in Butler County.
KDHE officials issued the advisory because of a loss of pressure.
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.
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.
Persons with cuts or severe rashes may wish to consult their physicians.
Get breaking news, weather and traffic on the go.
Download our News App and our Weather App for your phone and tablet.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

The school, along with all city of Ottawa water customers, remained under a boil order advisory until at least Thursday morning.
Photo by John Jared Hawks/The Ottawa Herald Providing healthy water for consumption was a top concern in Ottawa Tuesday and Wednesday after the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) issued a boil water advisory.
City officials said Wednesday morning a water sample was sent to KDHE lab in Topeka and they were awaiting the results.
City officials said any updates will be released when they become available.
The Ottawa school district provided bottled water Wednesday for students and staff as a cautionary measure, Dr. Jeanne Stroh, superintendent, said Wednesday.
We had great students at the middle and high schools who also helped.
We had all the water delivered about 7:30 a.m. or a quarter to 8.
We don’t want anybody to get sick.” Starbucks, located inside Price Chopper, 120 E. 19th St., Ottawa, was closed Wednesday because of the boil order, and will not reopen until it is rescinded, a manager said.
“We are pretty much dried up,” he said Wednesday morning.
There is always a run, people need water.” Waymire said Price Chopper provided bottled water to Ransom Memorial Hospital and Ottawa University.

Medford, Ore. — A contractor working on a private construction project Wednesday hit a 14″ water line on Crater Lake Highway/Highway 62 between Poplar Drive and Skypark Drive.
Due to loss of water pressure in the distribution system, potentially harmful bacteria could be present in the water supply for the following service addresses: 1864 through 2324 Alcan Drive 2553 through 2577 Alma Drive 1847 Patrick Street 2980 Crater Lake Highway 3012 Crater Lake Highway 3084 Crater Lake Highway If these bacteria are present, they could make you sick, and are a particular concern for people with weakened immune systems.
If you are in the specified area, do not drink the water without boiling it first.
Customers should bring water to a rolling boil for 1 full minute, allow the water to cool before using, and store the cooled water in a clean container with a cover.
The Medford Water Commissions say it will inform the public when tests show no bacteria and you no longer need to boil your water.
Staff is working as quickly and efficiently as possible, but it may be as long as 24-36 hours before test results are available.
This boil water advisory is a precaution.
Kristin Hosfelt anchors NBC5 News at 6 with NBC5 News Director Craig Smullin.
Kristin is originally from the Bay Area.
Kristin has won multiple journalism awards including Best Feature Reporting in the State of Maine.

After a major pipe break occurred at the McAlester Water Treatment Plant last Friday, City Manager Pete Stasiak said the city was told Wednesday that its water test results were negative and steps could be taken to lift the precautionary boil advisory.
A notice from the city said "all test samples have come back negative and the voluntary precautionary boil advisory is now lifted" Wednesday afternoon.
“That would prove that we don’t have any electrical issues.
That would also double what we can pump to the city and give us some backups.” Stasiak commended the people working to resolve the issues.
“There were a lot of dedicated people in this to make all of this work.” Pittsburg County Emergency Management announced Wednesday afternoon that a precautionary boil advisory remains in place for Rural Water Districts 6, 7, 9 and 16.
Jarred Ruegamer, the lead operator at the McAlester Water Treatment Plant, told the McAlester News-Capital on Tuesday that the pipe burst at a previous PVC patch on the 20-inch line early Friday morning near the old water plant.
Ruegamer said the crews contacted the Department of Environmental Quality, the city, and other management early in the process before the water supply levels were “basically empty on everything” by noon.
The crews located the valves and isolated the break to allow the pump nearly an hour to start pumping about 6,000 gallons per minute back into the city.
Several fire departments responded to the fire; Public Service Company of Oklahoma checked the power, and the situation was under control by about 6:30 p.m.
The website states the plant started operating in 1983 and operates 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

BETHEL PARK (KDKA) – A Boil Water Advisory, which was affecting 100,000 customers in parts of Allegheny and Washington counties, has been lifted.
With first light came word Pennsylvania American Water’s first test for contamination came back clean.
When it came to baking, the majority of our cakes do contain water.” Then, just after noon, Penn American’s Melissa Walters announced, “The second test came back clean, which allowed us to lift the boil advisory.” Kawecki and her staff immediately started rising out sinks, doing dishes, and washing the Bundt pans.
The donuts themselves and our coffee and espresso drinks.” Jarusinsky says they idled the espresso machine and used jugs of water for baking.
“You can think of a filter in your house.
For The Porch restaurant, it will take more than turning on the tap to get the bottom line back in order.
Executive Chef Kevin Hermann says, “We did have to close yesterday and for lunch today.” Hermann says they could make and serve food using bottled water, but were unable to run their dish machine or do any cleaning.
So, word that the boil advisory was being lifted this afternoon brought relief.
Hermann says, “It was great.
The weight was lifted, and we’ve taken every precaution necessary, and we’re super excited to be open and serving again.” As for helping any of the restaurants recoup their losses, Walters says, “We certainly feel the pain and the inconvenience of all our customers and the restaurants and the restaurant owners, so that’s something we’ll certainly explore.” The “all clear” means there is no further concern about possible contamination, but anyone still concerned can run their taps for a bit and throw out any ice cubes made by an ice maker during the boil advisory period.

Pennsylvania American Water has lifted the boil water advisory for approximately 100,000 customers in Washington and southern Allegheny counties that had been in place since Monday because of cloudy water problems.
The company announced the advisory was lifted shortly after noon, after getting results from a second round of state required testing that show turbidity levels were meeting federal standards at the company’s Aldrich Purification Plant on the Monongahela River in Union Township, Washington County.
The water company’s news release said, “Acceptable test results were obtained from samples collected on November 6 and 7, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has authorized lifting of the advisory.” The private water utility said a malfunctioning water filter at the Aldrich facility Monday morning caused turbidity, or cloudiness in the water that was more than twice the federal standard.
That water filter was fixed and contaminated water was flushed from the entire purification facility Monday.
The state required the company to pass two turbidity tests done 24-hours apart before it could lift the boil water advisory.
Turbidity, or cloudiness of water, does not make water unsafe to drink, but it may interfere with disinfection and allow for growth of viruses, bacteria, and parasites, the water company acknowledged on its Webpage Tuesday.
Those “bugs” can cause a variety of health problems, including nausea, cramps, diarrhea and headaches, especially affecting people with compromised immune systems, the elderly and infants.
Pennsylvania American said none of the test results showed contamination due to any of the disease-causing organisms.
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1983, or on Twitter @donhopey

Pennsylvania American Water officials said Wednesday morning that the first set of water samples tested overnight came back with no signs of contamination.
However, the boil water advisory will remain in effect until the results from a second round of samples are tested and are clear of contaminants.
The water company had expected the advisory to remain until at least Wednesday.
Cloudy tap water prompted the boil water advisory on Monday.
The private utility said the cause of the turbidity that prompted the precautionary advisory in 55 municipalities was a malfunctioning filter at the company’s Aldrich Purification Plant on the Monongahela River in Union Township, Washington County.
The first samples were taken Monday night, the second round of samples Tuesday night.
Turbidity readings and total coliform tests are done in-house, and Pennsylvania American’s lab is certified by DEP.
But it may interfere with disinfection and allow for growth of viruses, bacteria, and parasites, the water company acknowledged on its website Tuesday.
Those “bugs” can cause a variety of health problems, including nausea, cramps, diarrhea and headaches, especially affecting people with compromised immune systems, the elderly and infants.
▪ Dravosburg: 226 Maple Ave ▪ Elrama Volunteer Fire Company: 17 Elrama Ave, Union Township ▪ Hanover Township: 11 Municipal Drive ▪ Jefferson Hills Borough Police Department: 925 Old Clairton Road ▪ Monongahela Volunteer Fire Department: 451 W. Main St. ▪ Morris Township: 77 Park Drive ▪ North Franklin Township Fire Dept., 565 Sylvan Drive ▪ North Strabane Fire Department: 2550 Washington Road ▪ South Fayette Township Library: 515 Millers Run Road ▪ South Park Township Library: 2575 Brownsville Road ▪ Upper St Clair Community & Recreation Center: 1551 Mayview Road ▪ Washington Mall: 301 Oak Spring Road, Washington, Pa. ▪ Washington Park: 900 East Wheeling Street, Washington, Pa.