JONES, Okla. – The town of Jones is under a boil order due to E. coli contamination.

“This has never happened in the history of Jones that I’m aware of,” said Jones Mayor Ray Poland.

According to officials with the town of Jones, residents and businesses are under the boil order after the E. coli was detected during a monthly test.

“Saturday afternoon, I received a call from our PWA director, Carolton Taylor, that we had received a consent order from the Department of Environmental Quality that we have to start boiling our water until further notice,” Poland said. “We were required by DEQ to post a notice on every water customer that we have, either by personal contact or by leaving a notice on their door.”

Poland said they are warning the over 500 water customers to not drink, cook or wash dishes with the water without boiling it for at least a minute first.

The DEQ is now beginning the testing process to identify the contamination source and eliminate it.

“It could take up to two weeks. My hope is that we’re able to get this knocked out in a week or less,” Poland said.

Everyone in Jones is lending a helping hand to make sure residents have clean drinking water.

Johnny Pat’s convenience store is giving away cases of free water for anyone who needs it.

“Most of the residents coming in, it’s having an impact on their daily livelihood,” said Henry Dorsey, who works at Johnny Pat’s. “I had a couple of older couples come in this morning. They didn’t know we were giving away water. So, I took care of those needs for them.”

While they work to fix the issue, the town of Jones is asking the public for patience.

“We have had an excellent water system, and we’ve never had this issue before. So, we’re working through something new, and we ask for the public’s patience,” Poland said.

If you are feeling symptoms of nausea, cramps or diarrhea, you are asked to contact your doctor immediately.