City water declared safe, boil advisory lifted

Cape Girardeau officials lifted the boil water advisory in the city Friday after test results showed no sign of contaminants in the water. "It is not necessary to flush your pipes or appliances since contamination was not detected. To flush household pipes in an abundance of caution, a few minutes of running all household water would be an adequate safeguard," a city news release said.

The results bring an end to a crisis that city manager Kenneth Haskin described as "unprecented" at a press conference less than 24 hours after low pressure was first observed at the city's water plant. A 14-inch water main leak in the Big Bend area Monday afternoon resulted in an intital 14,000 customers being under a boil advisory. The advisory was expanded to the entire city later than evening.

Crews worked overnight Monday and into Tuesday afternoon creating a permanent fix for the leak.

Mayor Stacy Kinder, speaking at a Republican women's group meeting in Jackson, praised city staff for their response to the situation.

"While the whole issue has not only been frustrating but, for some, life-altering and even dangerous, I do want to publicly commend our city staff, not only for containing the crisis as quickly as they did but also with the communication processes that have developed as the week has gone on. Obviously, nothing is perfect, and there are already lists being generated for dealing with the next catastrope," she noted.

The boil advisory continued while tests were conducted to ensure the water was not contaminated. The first round of results came back Thursday afternoon and showed no contaminants. A second set of tests were required before the advisory could be lifted.

Kinder said the issue's resolution should give residents confidence that officials are working for the common good.

"The chief job of our city staff is to be prepared. My biggest hope is that our residents will come away with a general belief that they have a city government that is concerned about every citizen and cares deeply about serving our communtiy well and that can handle disasters in as professional and timely a manner as possible," she added.

Rick Fahr contributed to this story