Francis residents had a brief scare last week that their water supplies may contain the potentiall dangerous bacteria E. coli.

The town sent in water samples for routine weekly testing to Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management (SERM). E. coli was found in one sample, prompting the immediate warning for residents to boil their water on Aug. 18.

"It was a cautionary measure more than anything. Everyone here was pretty good about it. We followed the advisory until all the samples had been tested. It turned out to be nothing," said Francis mayor Cliff Knoll.

Following the initial discovery of bacteria, a set of six samples of water was taken on Aug. 20. The results came back on Aug. 22 and showed the water was clean. A second set of six samples was taken on Wednesday and came back clean on Thursday.

"We rescinded the warning on Aug. 24 in conjunction with the health district. We looked at the data and found from subsequent tests that the water was clean of bacteria," said Brent Wilson of SERM.

SERM sent the town a letter on Thursday stating that there was no presence of E. coli or other potentially harmful substances in the water.