Franklin County Kansas - Rural Water District #5

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER

 

The Franklin CO RWD 5 public water supply system violated a drinking water standard established by the Ground Water Rule under 40 CFR 141.402 (a)(l), (a)(3), and (b). Even though this was not an emergency, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened and what we are doing to correct this situation.

 

We are required to monitor your drinking water for specific contaminants on a regular basis. Results of regular monitoring are an indicator of whether or not our drinking water meets health standards. During early 2025, we did not complete all required monitoring or testing of the well water for E. coli bacteria and therefore, we are notifying our consumers of this issue and that it has been resolved without incident.

 

What happened: We are required to test for E. coli bacteria in the untreated well water every time a routine monthly ground water tap sample tests positive for total coliform bacteria. A monitoring violation occurred because of failure to collect a sample of the raw well water within the proper timeframe following a coliform-positive routine monthly tap sample during January 2025. In these rare instances, the state issues multiple deadlines for different samples to be taken and submitted from multiple locations. We confused two different deadlines, to submit the samples, when the samples were collected. All samples submitted were deemed safe. The initial positive sample was most likely the result of contamination during collection, not from the water source itself. Following the initial positive result, we immediately sent water samples to an independent lab which determined the samples to be safe

What you should do and who is at risk: This is not an emergency. There is nothing you need to do at this time. There is no direct health risk to consumers.

 

What we are doing: Since it is our desire to provide the safest water possible to our consumers, we have taken the action of paying closer attention to our monthly sampling program and daily record keeping, and are looking into alternative resources for testing or shipping if necessary in order to prevent future violations. We will call our laboratory early in the month if we haven't received bottles needed for sampling. We have resolved this issue.

 

 

For more information, please contact Name: DREW SHILLING at Phone: 785-893-5217 Or by Mail: PO BOX 486 OTTAWA KS 66067

 

Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes. schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

This notice is being sent to you by FRANKLIN CO RWD 5 Federal ID#: KS2005908

Date of online posting: 4/24/26