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Area restaurant operators felt the impact of the boil order, but remained open.

Vinton City Coordinator Andy Lent called Vinton Today late Saturday morning to announce that the boil order issued on Friday pertaining to city water has been lifted.

One house in Vinton that had been vacant for some time was tested, and the test indicated that e-coli was present; city offiicials later determined that the test was what water treatment professionals call a sample error, and that no e-coli was present in city water supplies.

Vinton Mayor John Watson said that he believes the city should review its boil order policies, which are governed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

"I have told City Coordinator Andy Lent that we need to review this type of situation and have more current Standard Operating Procedures," said the Mayor on Sunday. "I plan to find out how we are told by the DNR to have a boil order and what the city should do."

Especially in situations like Friday, where the water in just one house tested positive in just one test for e-coli, the city should have more options, said Mayor Watson.

"I understand it was a bad water test at just one house," said Watson. "I think that the city should push back to the DNR if in fact the boil order could have waited till we checked that one house out ourselves, and maybe there would be much less confusion, and all of the cost that went along with this type of order."


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Comments (6)

so now what, do we let the water run or is it OK as is?
By: Denny Powers on November 10th 1:18pm
Thank you for keeping us informed.
By: Kris Howes-Vonstein on November 10th 5:09pm
The water is safe to drink. You can start to use water as you always have before. Thanks for the question.
By: Andy Lent on November 10th 6:08pm
So why didn't they figure that out before issuing the boil order?!

Editor Valerie says: Much better to be safe than hospitalized!
By: Caroline Miller on November 10th 7:53pm
An entire city's water system can be labeled unsafe and shutdown, based on a single test?

Sounds like text-book regulations have trumped basic common sense again.
By: Paul Williams on November 12th 8:00pm
There should be a program set-up for better notifying the public. Radio stations in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, also all 3 TV stations.
By: Marlyn Duncan on November 12th 10:04pm

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