Water safe for customers, cafe owner says

Corner Store and Cafe owner Cindy Robbins wants to assure customers her business' water is safe to drink.

The Burfordville business on Highway 34 is on a list of 37 public drinking water systems in the state that failed to comply with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources testing requirements.

DNR public notice coordinator Patty Ritchie said the Corner Store and Cafe failed to submit water samples to DNR during March, April and last September. If a public water system fails to submit a sample for three months out of the year, the system goes on DNR's noncompliance list.

Robbins said she purchased the Corner Store and Cafe in mid-September of last year and was unaware that she was required to test the water from the business' private well. "After we became aware of that, I was trained how to draw the samples of water and started sending them in," she said.

Robbins suffers from Crohn's disease. During March and April she was hospitalized and unable to draw the water samples. "It's not like I forgot. I was in the hospital and wasn't able to test for those two months," Robbins said.

She received several noncompliance notices from DNR and was told she was required to alert customers the water had not been tested. "I hung signs on the door to let customers know that," she said.

All water samples from the Corner Store and Cafe have tested negative for bacteria, according to DNR reports.

"I try to take care of my customers in the very best way possible," Robbins said.

Ritchie said failing to monitor does not necessarily mean the water is unsafe, but routine testing is crucial to maintaining a safe water supply.

jfreeze@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246