JENKS — Restaurants were shut down and a boil advisory was issued in Jenks on Friday evening after a water sample tested positive for E. coli bacteria.
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality issued a boil advisory for all Jenks water customers.
In response, the Tulsa City-County Health Department ordered that all businesses that are Jenks water customers and that serve “open” food cease operations immediately and stay closed until the boil order is lifted.
Jenks officials said they were notified of an irregular sample and that, as a matter of protocol, follow-up tests were conducted again near where the original sample was taken.
After the second test, the water system was flushed and another sample was taken.
Officials expect results of testing on the third sample to be available by mid-day Saturday.
As long as the advisory remains in effect, all 7,236 Jenks utility customers are advised to boil — for one minute — any water to be used for drinking, preparing food, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, bathing infants and cleaning open wounds.
Officials recommend finding an alternate source of water, such as bottled water, until the advisory has been lifted.
Retail establishments that sell packaged food are able to continue to sell those items while the advisory is in effect; however, fountain and drink service must be discontinued.
When the boil order is lifted, food establishments will have to flush their water systems, discard previous ice supplies, and wash, rinse and sanitize all equipment that comes into contact with food.
Doug Mitcho, owner of Gaetano’s Pizzeria & Creamery in Jenks, said Friday night is normally the best night of the week for his business.
“Friday night is our busiest time,” he said. “We can do as much business in an hour and a half on a Friday night than we do all day on a Monday.”
This Friday night was a different story.
“We’re dead,” Mitcho said.
He said he heard about the boil advisory from customers and not from city or health officials. He said that even though he didn’t receive any official order to shut down, he decided on his own to stop taking orders.
“I’m very concerned about the safety of my customers,” Mitcho said. “I felt obligated to take precautionary measures.”
He said it would be nice if a system could be set up in which all restaurant owners are notified by officials of such situations instead of having to hear about them from customers and the media.
“It’s frustrating,” he said.
Denton Gage, owner of Prime Time Pizza in Jenks, said he found out about the situation shortly after 6 p.m. from an off-duty employee who called him.
Like Mitcho, Gage said he decided to shut down immediately instead of waiting to be told to do so by authorities.
“It stinks,” Gage said. “But I’m not going to risk my customers getting sick or losing my license.”
Although it “started out to be a very busy Friday,” he said the decision to shut down right away was an easy one.
“I’m not going to risk anything,” Gage said.
He sent his employees home for the night but planned to keep answering the phone until about 10 p.m. to field any calls from customers who hadn’t heard the news.
Yet, he said word spread around Jenks quickly on Friday evening.
While he hopes things will get back to normal in time for the Saturday evening rush, he said that if restaurants have to remain closed, he will just have to “roll with the punches.”
In June, Broken Arrow restaurants were shut down about 24 hours by a boil advisory there. Shortly thereafter, the Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce promoted a “Take Your Employees to Lunch Day,” during which businesspeople were urged to dine at Broken Arrow restaurants to help make up for the revenue the establishments lost during that city’s water scare.
Gage said Friday night that “it isn’t about the money; it’s about the safety of my customers and the cleanliness of my restaurant.”
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