A boil water advisory for the city of Festus will remain in effect until Wednesday, Oct. 26, at a minimum, City Administrator Greg Camp said.
The advisory was issued at about 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, after a subcontractor of AT&T damaged a water main on South Mill Avenue. Patrons were without water for much of the day.
Camp said the city’s water must pass testing for contamination twice before the boil water advisory will be lifted.
“It should be sometime Wednesday when the boil water advisory is lifted,” he said.
Festus R-6 School District spokesman Kevin Pope said the district will resume classes Tuesday, Oct. 25. Festus did not hold classes today, Oct. 24, because of the boil advisory.
Camp said about a million gallons of water were lost after the water main was damaged and before city crews could complete repairs. He said the volume of water gushing out of the main made repairing it difficult.
“The contractor for AT&T, Sunrise Telecom, struck a water main with a boring machine sometime before noon,” Camp said. “I think we got everything back in order by about 8:20 p.m. or just after.”
While the city’s water should not be consumed unless boiled before the advisory is lifted, people may use it for bathing, washing clothes and other uses, Camp said.
For more information, go to cityoffestus.org and follow the link to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources page on boil water orders and advisories or go to the department’s website at dnr.mo.gov.