Residents React As Boil Order Lifted For Jenks

The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality lifted a precautionary boil water advisory on Saturday, according to the City of Jenks.

The advisory was issued after a water sample showed signs of E. coli bacteria. Follow-up tests showed no evidence of the bacteria, the city said in a statement.

08/10/2013 Related Story: Restaurants Ordered Closed, Boil Order In Effect For Jenks Due To E. coli

The water has been deemed to be safe.

Jimmy Blacketer is one of the co-owners of the Waterfront Grill and Los Cabos, two of the restaurants

 "When you've got 5,600 people at Los Cabos, and you basically have to tell them to get up and leave, it's heartbreaking," Blacketer said. "We're hoping we will get a normal crowd in here, but we'll prepare for anything."

According to Jenks officials, they were notified of an irregular sample and, as a matter of protocol, follow-up tests were conducted again near where the original sample was taken. After the second test, the water system was flushed and another sample was taken.

Possible causes of the E. coli appearing in the sample include the manner in which the test was taken. The sample came from an outside faucet and an environmental factor, such as an animal making physical contact with the faucet, could have created the contamination, officials said.

The Health Department say E. coli could have got in the water system any number of ways, it could have been low water pressure, a water main break, or even a failure in the treatment process, but for many people it's not how it happened but when.

The Department of Environmental Quality says it got the first positive test on Wednesday.

Parker Johnson says his family ate at a restaurant in town on Thursday - a day before the boil advisory went out.

"All four of us had water, and you know there's always a risk," he said. "The E. coli could have been in the water long before the tests were out."

"That's exactly true, and that will be left up to the city of Jenks and the DEQ to do their investigation to find what happened, and unfortunately they may never know what happened," said Debbie Watts with the Tulsa Health Department.

Watts says signs of E. coli poisoning can take 24 hours to a week to show up. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea. At this point there have been no reports of anyone getting sick.

The DEQ says test results can take up to 18 hours to come back - and they have to confirm a test before they will put out an alert.

The Health Department is telling residents to run hot water through their faucets and run an empty load of dishes and laundry - to make sure the lines are flushed out.