FLOWOOD, Miss. (WJTV) – The boil water notice for the City of Flowood has been lifted.

According to the Mississippi State Department of Health’s (MSDH) website, the notice was lifted on Saturday, January 13. Officials said they confirmed an appropriate disinfection is in place and the samples taken from the distribution system are clear.

Here are some recommended actions residents and businesses can take after a boil-water notice is lifted: 

• Flush faucets for a total of ten (10) minutes to introduce system water throughout house plumbing.
  • 1 faucet — run for 10 minutes 
  • 2 faucets — run both for 5 minutes 
  • 3 faucets — run each for 3-4 minutes 
    • Flush any faucet a minimum of two minutes to ensure clearing of the line serving the faucet. 
• Discard any drinks, ice, food, etc, made during the boil-water alert.  
• Rewash any food or drink contact items (knives, forks, plates, etc.) with “cleared” system water.  
• Check water filters (in faucets, refrigerators and elsewhere) and replace if necessary.  
• Run dishwasher through a cycle or two before washing dishes. 

The state imposed boil water notice for the city was issued on Thursday, January 11 after water sampling showed the presence of E. coli bacteria in the system. A boil water notice was issued for the City of Jackson the same day due to E. coli.

According to JXN Water, the six required repeat samples were taken and delivered to the state laboratory on January 11. They said officials at the state laboratory notified JXN Water on Friday, January 12 that all six samples were negative, meaning no E. coli was present.

At a Thursday news conference, Ted Henifin, the Interim Third-Party Manager of JXN Water, said state officials refused to validate the lab results before issuing the boil water notice.

“Confirmation is an integral part of the process as defined in the EPA Total Coliform Rule to ensure there were no sampling or analysis errors before taking action that can needlessly scare consumers and create significant impact to water related businesses in the service area,” said Henifin. “I still do not understand why the Mississippi Department of Health issued the city-wide boil water notice before confirming the initial results. The damage to confidence in our water system and economic impact to our area businesses is enormous.”

According to MSDH’s website, the boil water notice for the City of Jackson was lifted on Friday, January 12.

MSDH officials said in spite of the allegations made by JXN Water, they’re standing behind the initial test results that indicated the presence of E. coli in Jackson’s surface water. Upon review, all evidence supports that these test results were true positives.

Since 2003, MSDH officials said there have been 29 instances of E. coli detected in the City of Jackson’s water system. During the same time period, the City of Flowood has had three instances of E. coli in their water system. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.