What to Do When Boil Water Advisory is Lifted

Boil water notices are often issued because of disruption in power at the water treatment plant or due to distribution water pressure drop caused by burst pipes. In both cases, the water supplier cannot function properly in treating the water and must inform the public of unsafe water conditions.

If your municipal water supplier issued a “Boil Water Advisory” or your city was on a boil water notice, here are steps to take to ensure your household is safe throughout the duration of the advisory. You might also be interested in learning how a business can keep it’s doors open during a boil water order.

What to Do After a Boil Water Order Ends?

Here are some recommendations on cleaning procedures and replacement of items that might have been compromised during a boil water advisory.

	Household faucets and pipes: Flush your plumbing and pipes. To flush your plumbing, run water through all of your cold water faucets for at least 5 minutes. If your service connection is long or complex (such as in an apartment building) consider flushing for a longer period. Your property manager or landlord should be able to advise you on longer flushing times.
	Automatic ice makers: Dump existing ice and flush the water feed lines by making and discarding three batches of ice cubes. Wipe down the ice bin with a disinfectant. If your water feed line to the machine is longer than 20 feet, increase to five batches.
	Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water System: Drain your RO storage tank, sanitize the system, and replace the reverse osmosis filters. The filters are disposable and may be contaminated. This especially applies to carbon filters and others that are near the end of their life. We can help you identify your replacement filters here.
	Hot water heater: Run enough water to completely replace at least one full tank of water.
	Water coolers, in line filters, and other appliances with direct water connections: replace water cooler filters and sanitize the system.  Water softeners: Flush your water softening system by initiating the regeneration cycle.