Article: Iowa's Cedar River slowly receding but Cedar Rapids will remain flooded for days

The dark, filthy water that inundated the entire downtown of Iowa's second-largest city was receding Saturday after forcing 24,000 people to flee, but those who remained were being urged to take draconian measures to avoid overwhelming the city's only remaining drinking water source.

A sandbagging siege saved the last of the city's four collection wells from contamination by the record flood. But officials warned that if people did not cut back on flushing toilets, taking showers and other nonessential uses, the town would be out of potable water within three to four days.

"Water is still our primary concern," said Pat Ball, the city's utilities director. "We're ...

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