Boil order lifted for hundreds of El Paso County residents

An urgent "boil order" for hundreds of El Paso County residents was lifted on Thursday.

Steve Dodd, the Water Operator for Falcon Highlands Metropolitan District, said the state has cleared the way and the water is now safe to drink without boiling it.

Earlier this week people who get their water from Falcon Highlands Metro District were warned to not drink their water without boiling it first.

The water district posted a boil order to its

Monday. The site said the water district had a booster station failure that resulted in a "significant" pressure loss in its drinking water system.

On Thursday night at of 7 p.m. the order was still on the website, but Dodd confirmed it had been lifted.

Neighbors told 11 News they noticed the drop in pressure on Monday morning.

The company said to boil all water for three minutes, then let it cool before using. Alternatively, affected customers were told they could use bottled water.

Neighbors said this is the second time they've had to boil their water in recent years.

"After that last one, I try to keep drinking water, bottled water, on hand," Michael Gerth said. "I've got about 30 cases in the basement that we cycle through and use just daily too. So I guess we learned something on the last one to keep some water on hand."

James Thomas lives in the same neighborhood a few streets away. He sad his family had a hard time finding bottled water.

"We went out as soon as we can, and we went to Walmart. Done. The shelves were done," Thomas said. "So we had to go to Costco, I think it was, to get water. Water in this area was bought up pretty quick."

Thomas told 11 News he plans to keep more water on hand, in case this happens again.

"Anything that's mechanical eventually can break down," he said. "So I know now, I'll always keep certain stores prepared for, just in case, because it happened last year. It happened this year, and unfortunately, it'll probably happen again next year, as well. But I'll be prepared."

The order impacts about 350 homes and 25 businesses.