A boil water order is still in effect today (May 15) and is expected to continue until the weekend in Public Water Supply District 2, which serves the Jefferson County portion of Fenton, High Ridge and a part of Byrnes Mill.
The boil water order is now almost two weeks long.
The plant is up and running again after the district’s water treatment plant was inundated by floodwaters May 2 as the Big River hit historic flood levels, but the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is requiring the Water District 2 to submit two sets of water samples since switching back to the Big River as its source of water, plant manager Steve Ratliff said.
Previously, the district had switched to a new well that enabled the district to keep customers’ faucets running, but the switch came with a precautionary boil water order, district manager Bob Snelson said last week.
Now, though, district has changed back to the Big River as its source of water.
Ratliff said he took 20 bacteriological samples this morning to send to DNR for testing and planned to take another 20 samples Tuesday.
Test results are expected by the end of the week, Ratliff said.
News outlets will be notified and a notice will be put on the district’s website when the boil water order is lifted.
The district will install a berm that should protect the plant from flooding in the future. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will cover 75 percent of cost of the structure. Plans for the berm are awaiting approval from the agency, Snelson said.