OLATHE, Kan. — Water departments along the Kaw River were notified of sewage leaking upstream at a Topeka pumping station on Tuesday. When water companies who service Douglas and Johnson County residents were notified of the problem, there was no panic and no rush to warn customers.
All say safety and quality guidelines are a constant. A by-pass pumping station in Topeka failed late Sunday, dumping sewage into the Kansas River. It’s a long way to treatment plants here in the metro, but warning calls went out just in case.
Topeka’s water pollution control division is monitoring e-coli levels on their end. Locally, companies are confident your water is safe.
“We are very well equipped to treat that, again we are constantly testing over and over again and always in a position to make adjustments, add chemicals or do whatever else is necessary to keep our water safe,” Tim Danneberg with the city of Olathe said.
WaterOne echoes Olathe’s confidence in this statement:
With the dilution factor at this distance, it does not pose a problem for customers in WaterOne’s service area (Eastern Johnson County). In addition, WaterOne’s water treatment process is designed to remove any residual effects like this.
Officials in Topeka are working to correct the problem they had Sunday night so it doesn’t happen again.