People were lining up for fresh water Monday morning at City Hall in Ottawa, Kansas.
The city and surrounding rural areas have been on a boil water order since Saturday. In all, the mayor believes around 17,000 people are affected.
Related: Boil order issued for Ottawa, Princeton, rural districts
Ottawa distributed $5,000 worth of bottled water out of the city's operational budget on Sunday and Monday.
The young and the old are two groups of people more likely to get sick if they drink contaminated water.
"That's why I'm going out there to get water," explained Denise Collins, property manager at National Church Residences - Cedar Square.
"A lot of our citizens don't have readily access to that water." Richard Nienstedt,Ottawa city manager @41ActionNews pic.twitter.com/afb1YIHBUm
— Belinda Post (@Belinda_Post) August 29, 2016
Collins hand delivered the water to 48 residents.
"It keeps you from boiling two pans of water," said Sue Bischoff, resident at Cedar Square. "I'm very grateful and you don't have to wait for it to cool."
Collins said she got the water for her community because many residents can't drive.
While Collins passes water inside her community, city leaders will continue to hand out water outside of City Hall until 6 p.m. Monday.
But what caused the boil order?
On Saturday, a PVC pipe burst when an inch and a half of rain fell in an hour. It was only five years old, but fixing it will probably cost between $13,000-$15,000, according to the city's code enforcement.
This is the pipe that burst leading to boil water order in Franklin Co. Water towers drained in 10 min@41ActionNews pic.twitter.com/gPIqML8iEX
— Belinda Post (@Belinda_Post) August 29, 2016
Ottawa also delivered water to the public schools and the parochial school.
The boil order will last at least until Tuesday at noon. That's when the city gets its water quality tests back.
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Belinda Post can be reached at belinda.post@kshb.com.
