OLYMPIA - Spanaway Water Company is continuing the precautionary boil water notice issued early Wednesday evening for all its customers. This boil water notice will remain in effect until water quality samples confirm that the water is safe to drink.

Repeat confirmation samples taken from the positive test sites and additional sites up and down stream of the original positive test sites have come back contamination-free. Similarly, samples taken from the company's six operating wells and three storage tanks were also contamination-free.

However, the results for water samples taken Thursday from all 20 routine bacteriological sampling sites and the Bethel Schools served by Spanaway Water will not be known until Friday evening.

Ten schools in the Bethel School District will remain closed for a second day and thousands of Pierce County residents are under a boil order after E. coli was found in the drinking water.

Spanaway Water Co. is urging the 20,000 people on its system to boil their water for 5 minutes if it will be used for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, mixing infant formula, dishwashing, and ice making.

The precautionary health advisory was issued because E. coli was detected in two routine water samples and total coliform was found in a third.

Ten schools in the Bethel School District, which affects about 8,000 students, were closed Thursday and will remain closed on Friday due to the water problem, in addition to several businesses. The local Albertsons pulled all their produce, bakery and deli items - anything which could have been contimated by E.coli tainted water.

"It could be so many things. It could be the wand used to test the water was contimated, could have been the bottles," said Beth Lenderman, Spanaway Water Co. "We have no way of knowing at this point."

The state Department of Health is working with the water company to find the source of the contamination and fix the problem.

The total financial toll is unknown at this point, but several stores are making money by selling bottled water.

The Spanaway Water Company has also set up a clean water station at a Home Depot store at Military road and A Street to provide some water to customers until tests show the tap water is safe. Residents are urged to bring their own clean water bottles.

If you are unsure whether you are served by Spanaway Water Company, please check one of your water company's bill receipts to confirm that you are served by Spanaway Water Company.

Spanaway Water has established a special phone line for customers who want more information: 253-875-5223.