Lamar under boil order

July 10, 2008 08:50 pm

— By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
LAMAR, Mo. — A boil order has been issued for Lamar’s municipal water system, affecting about 4,600 people.
The order, issued Thursday by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, was in reaction to high turbidity levels in the water. The problem became apparent last weekend, but was not serious enough to require a boil order until Thursday, city officials said.
Turbidity is a measure of suspended particles in drinking water, sometimes called cloudiness.
The residents of Lamar are being told to boil their water for three minutes before use for cooking and drinking. Water used for bathing does not need to be boiled.
The DNR and the city are attempting to determine the cause of the turbidity.
Lynn Calton, city manager, said, “We’re not for sure yet what has caused this. We have not been able to pinpoint the cause, but we have a theory.’’
Calton said it is believed that recent rains have stirred up the sediment in Lamar Lake, which is fed by three small streams on the southeast side of the town. Lamar gets its water from the lake.
“The rains caused it to be more turbid in the lake, and it was more than the treatment plant could handle under normal circumstances,” he said. “That’s the probable cause.
“We started seeing a bit of problem last Saturday. We thought we had it all cleared up. We did a little flushing, but it kept getting worse. So, we decided to take all of the water out of the plant, scrub it down and start over, so to speak.”
The city had drained its holding tank and clear well of finished water, and scrubbed them down in hopes of bringing the plant back into operation late Thursday. Calton said sediment had built up in those two locations.
“Once we get good water into the system, we’ll do a lot of flushing at the fire hydrants to get the cloudy water out of the system that is in the pipes,” Calton said. “The chlorine levels have stayed where they should be.”
Calton, who said this is the first time he has been involved in a municipal boil order, said all of the cloudy water should be out of the system by this afternoon. He said it is not clear when the DNR will lift the boil order, but Calton hoped it would happen before the weekend.
Lamar Lake collects from a watershed that is 3,000 acres in size. The city fills its three water-storage towers with treated water from the lake.
Calton said the city has been fielding a lot of phone calls from people wanting more information. He said it is likely the city will trim water bills in the next cycle to compensate to some degree for the boil order.
“We trying to work with the people and actually reduce the usage,’’ he said.
Wally Miller, spokesman for the DNR’s regional office in Springfield, on Thursday said department representatives Thursday were in Lamar investigating the cause of the boil order.

Health effects
While turbidity has no direct health effects, it can interfere with the disinfection process and provide a medium for microbial growth. Turbidity may indicate the presence of disease-causing organisms, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.