Quick take
- What: a Tier 2 public notice of a chlorine treatment violation for the Ruston Water System (PWS LA 1061017).
- 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. The well was repaired and the valves opened.
- You don’t need to boil water. 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 broke Louisiana’s minimum chlorine rule this summer. The city says it is not an emergency, and customers do not need to boil their water.
What happened
Water systems have to keep a minimum amount of chlorine in treated water so it can kill germs. According to the notice, chlorine was below 0.5 milligrams per liter in more than 5% of samples during two months in a row: July 1-31 and Aug. 1-31, 2026. That counts as a violation of the Louisiana State Sanitary Code.
The city says the cause was a pump failure at one well site and valves that were left closed by mistake, which made water travel farther through the system.
What the city did
The notice says the city switched to another well 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.
What you should do
Nothing, unless you have specific health concerns. If you do, the notice says to talk to your doctor. Under state rules, the city asks customers to share the notice with people who drink the water but may not get it directly, such as people in apartments, nursing homes, schools and businesses.
Questions: City of Ruston, (318) 242-7703. The Ruston City Council’s next listed meetings are Nov. 2 and Dec. 7 at 5:30 p.m.