BOIL WATER ORDER COULD BE LIFTED TODAY

Once water pressure was restored and the pumps replaced, all Keven Priester and the rest of Cape Girardeau's water users could do was wait.

Priester is production superintendent for Cape Girardeau's water system. His job is to make sure the water keeps flowing and is safe to drink.

He was waiting for the results of water tests to see if indeed any contamination exists in the water supply.

The precautionary boil water order was to remain in effect until results of those tests were known this morning.

The test requires a 24-hour incubation period. Priester took the first samples between 2 and 3 a.m. Saturday.

Friday morning the last of three pumps, all damaged during the Mississippi River flooding, broke and a handful of water customers lost pressure.

The Department of Natural Resources requires that whenever water pressure drops below 20 pounds, a precautionary boil water order be issued.

Emergency repairs on the pumps were completed at 11:30 p.m. Friday. One permanent pump and two temporary pumps were installed at the Cape Rock treatment plant.

On Saturday, Priester and his crew battled sizzling heat to install a second pump. A third pump is scheduled to arrive Monday and be installed.

Conditions in the pump house, built in 1931, were never designed to be comfortable. On Saturday, temperatures inside the small brick building were at least 10 degrees above the outside temperatures.

The building is four stories with three stories below ground. Until last week, three of the four stories remained flooded, taking a toll on the pumping equipment.

The Cape Rock facility provides the bulk of the city's water. During these hot days, residents are using between 5.5 and 7 million gallons of water a day.

Isolated boil water orders have been issued when a water main breaks, but a citywide boil water order hasn't been issued in many years.

The requirement left many people with questions about how long to boil water and what would be safe -- watering the dog, using ice from an ice maker, showering, washing dishes.

"We have had a lot of telephone calls today," Priester said Saturday.

Priester emphasized the boil-water order is precautionary. It wasn't ordered because a problem was found during testing.

But, he added, "it's best to err on the side of caution and adhere to the letter of the law."