By MELISSA PEACOCK

LAPLACE – Instead of collecting drinking water before Tropical Storm Isidore stormed into St. John the Baptist Parish, LaPlace residents were collecting rain water to flush toilets and wash faces and hands.

About 8,000 residents were without water Tuesday after a waterline supplying water to the city ruptured. The cause of the rupture is under investigation.

“It was a failure in a 24-inch main waterline that supplies water to LaPlace,” Parish President Nickie Monica said. “We do not know what caused the pipe to rupture. In fact, we had a section of pipe cut out and are having it examined to try to determine the cause.”

The parish issued a boil order on Wednesday for water being used for consumption. Parish officials said the order was standard procedure.

“By state law, any time the water is jeopardized, we are required to issue a boil order,” Monica said.

Samples of the water were sent to the state lab to check for contamination. Results can back clean.

On Thursday, the order was lifted and officials told residents the water was, in fact, safe to drink.

The water outage did effect some area businesses. Some restaurants served residents on paper plates. Other restaurants and some schools closed until water could be restored.