Quick take
- What: A Tier 2 public notice of a chlorine treatment violation for the Ruston Water System (PWS LA 1061017). It covers the whole system and doesn’t name a smaller area.
- Why: Chlorine was below 0.5 mg/L in more than 5% of samples in two straight months, July and August 2026.
- Cause, per the city: a pump failure at one well and valves left closed by mistake. The well was repaired and the valves opened.
- The notice says: “You do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions.” All bacteria samples for July and August were negative, and samples through Sept. 23 met the minimum.
The City of Ruston has posted a state-required public notice that the Ruston Water System fell short of Louisiana’s minimum chlorine rule in July and August. The notice is dated Sept. 23 and was posted on the city’s website Oct. 5. It says the problem is not an emergency and that “you do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions.”
What happened
The notice covers the Ruston Water System (PWS LA 1061017) in Lincoln Parish. It doesn’t name a smaller part of town.
Water systems must keep enough chlorine in treated water to kill germs. According to the notice, chlorine was below 0.5 milligrams per liter in more than 5% of samples in two months in a row: July 1-31 and Aug. 1-31, 2026. That breaks the Louisiana State Sanitary Code. The notice says the system “is currently in violation” of the rule.
The city says the cause was a pump failure at one well site and valves that were left closed by mistake. That made water travel farther through the system.
What the city did
The notice says the city switched to another well right away and flushed lines to clear out the low-chlorine water. It then repaired the well and opened the valves.
All bacteria samples taken from July 1 through Aug. 31 were negative, the city says. All samples through the Sept. 23 monitoring period met the 0.5 mg/L minimum.
Why chlorine matters
The notice explains that water that isn’t treated well enough may contain bacteria, viruses and parasites. These can cause nausea, cramps, diarrhea and headaches, though those symptoms can have many other causes too. Water treated to meet state health rules “should be considered safe,” the notice says.
What you should do
The notice says you don’t need to boil your water or do anything else. If you have specific health concerns, talk to your doctor. The city asks customers to share the notice with people who drink the water but may not have gotten it directly, such as people in apartments, nursing homes, schools and businesses.
Questions: City of Ruston, (318) 242-7703.