Boil Water Order Issued for Leakesville, Mississippi

The state Health Department has issued a boil-water alert for customers who receive their drinking water from the town of Leakesville. This affects about 1,500 customers in the city limits and east of the Chickasawhay River in Leakesville.

Water should be boiled vigorously for at least one minute before it is consumed.

Water system officials told the health department that there was pressure loss from one or more line breaks. When a distribution system loses pressure, contaminants can siphon back into the water.

Public health officials consider any system with pressure loss to be contaminated until tests prove otherwise.