Boil advisory continues in Crowder

Tuesday, May 10th 2005, 4:07 pm

By: News On 6

CROWDER, Okla. (AP) -- People who get water from the Pittsburg County Public Works Authority plant here are being advised by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality to continue the practice of boiling their water for at 10 minutes before drinking it or using it for cooking.

The plant provides water to customers in the Crowder, Canadian and Arrowhead Estates areas. It also sells water to the Indianola Rural Water district. McAlester is not affected.

The original boil advisory was issued in April.

DEQ spokesperson Judy Duncan said tests have revealed no bacteria in the water. However, the water is turbid, or cloudy and discolored enough that bacteria might survive if it entered the water system through a broken line or some other manner, she said.

The DEQ will be taking a closer look at the water treatment plant to determine what needs to be done to remedy the situation.

The first bout of discolored and particle-laden water in the system earlier this year had been blamed on a bad batch of alum, a chemical used by water companies to cause solids in water to clump together. More alum had been added to the water, causing it to become corrosive, according to the DEQ.

Another batch of cloudy water around Easter was blamed on a low water level in a clear well, which is a holding tank at the plant where treated water sits until it's pumped to customers. An equipment malfunction was blamed for causing the water level to recede to only 3 or 4 feet deep, resulting in more turbid water.