Joplin residents warned to boil water

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) -- A mandatory boil order for Joplin's drinking water has been issued as officials test it for bacteria.

Officials from the Missouri American Water Co. and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources say the boil order issued Thursday will last at least four days.

They say it will take at least two days to flush all the water from the lines and another two days of testing to see if the system contains bacteria.

Water tests have not shown any bacterial contamination so far.

Muddy water from the rain-swollen Shoal Creek overwhelmed the Blendville water-treatment plant.

Officials from the Joplin Health Department called and warned restaurants and businesses. Water fountains in Joplin schools were turned off, and Wal-Mart shipped 15,000 bottles of water to the schools.

A tanker truck containing potable water has been positioned on a parking lot at Memorial Hall to provide water.

Noel, in southwest Missouri, also had an unrelated water problem Thursday after a broken pipeline spewed wastewater into the Elk River.

Engineers are trying to figure out a way to either reroute or reconnect the pipeline, city officials said. The break in the 6-inch, cast-iron pipeline, which connects Noel's wastewater treatment plant with a lift station a half-mile away, was discovered Tuesday.

The lift station has a normal rate of 140,000 gallons per day. Although the lift station was pumping, no wastewater entered the treatment plant.

The city said on Thursday that it could take 48 hours before corrective steps could be taken.

Larry Archer, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, said the wastewater is being diluted by storm water entering the pipeline and by the floodwater in the river.

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Information from: The Joplin Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com