CLARKSBURG -- A boil water advisory affecting about 48,000 customers in Harrison County prompted some schools and businesses, including the FBI Fingerprint Center in Clarksburg, to close today.

The advisory was issued late Wednesday as a precaution after E. coli was found in four water samples, said Clarksburg Water Board General Manager Dick Welch.

Preliminary results from new samples taken by the city came back clean today. If results due Friday of samples taken by state officials are also clean, Welch said the advisory should lift on Friday.

There were no reports of any illnesses, though some strains of E. coli can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections and respiratory illnesses.

Walter Ivey, director of the Environmental Engineering Division for the state Office of Environmental Health Services, said that three of the contaminated samples drawn Tuesday came from outlying systems that buy water from Clarksburg.

Welch said it's possible that the bottles used to gather the samples or the taps from which they were drawn were contaminated.

"The water coming out of the plant is safe,'' he said.

The county health department advised all businesses, including nursing homes and day-care centers, on necessary precautions to take to remain open.

Still, some businesses, restaurants and two catholic schools, in addition to the FBI center, opted to close, said Jimmy Marino, personnel director for the city of Clarksburg. A call to the FBI center was not immediately returned.

Public schools were not affected because they are on spring break this week.

Overall, Marino said it's been "pretty calm.''

"I thought we'd be bombarded with calls, but we're not in a panic,'' he said.

CLARKSBURG -- A boil water advisory affecting about 48,000 customers in Harrison County prompted some schools and businesses, including the FBI Fingerprint Center in Clarksburg, to close today.

The advisory was issued late Wednesday as a precaution after E. coli was found in four water samples, said Clarksburg Water Board General Manager Dick Welch.

Preliminary results from new samples taken by the city came back clean today. If results due Friday of samples taken by state officials are also clean, Welch said the advisory should lift on Friday.

There were no reports of any illnesses, though some strains of E. coli can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections and respiratory illnesses.

Walter Ivey, director of the Environmental Engineering Division for the state Office of Environmental Health Services, said that three of the contaminated samples drawn Tuesday came from outlying systems that buy water from Clarksburg.

Welch said it's possible that the bottles used to gather the samples or the taps from which they were drawn were contaminated.

"The water coming out of the plant is safe,'' he said.

The county health department advised all businesses, including nursing homes and day-care centers, on necessary precautions to take to remain open.

Still, some businesses, restaurants and two catholic schools, in addition to the FBI center, opted to close, said Jimmy Marino, personnel director for the city of Clarksburg. A call to the FBI center was not immediately returned.

Public schools were not affected because they are on spring break this week.

Overall, Marino said it's been "pretty calm.''

"I thought we'd be bombarded with calls, but we're not in a panic,'' he said.