What to Do During a Boil Water Advisory

It is 7:10 on a Tuesday morning. Your phone has a text from the county, one kid is brushing their teeth at the bathroom sink, the coffee maker is already gurgling, and the dog's bowl was refilled twenty minutes ago.

The water is still running. It looks completely normal. That is the strange part of a boil water advisory: nothing about your house looks any different.

Here is what to do, what you can stop worrying about, and the handful of things almost everyone forgets.

What does a boil water advisory actually mean?

It means your community's water has germs in it, or might have, and the utility is not willing to assume it does not.

Advisories are usually issued out of caution rather than after someone gets sick. A water system stays clean because it is pressurized, with water constantly pushing outward through the pipes. When pressure drops, whatever is in the soil around a pipe can get in.

Main breaks are the most common trigger. Power outages that stop pumps are another, and so is flooding, which is why an advisory often follows heavy rain. Sewer systems get overwhelmed in the same storms. The EPA estimates there are at least 23,000 to 75,000 sanitary sewer overflows a year nationally, caused by blockages, line breaks, power failures, and stormwater getting into pipes that were never meant to carry it. That is the same weather, and often the same week, as a boil notice.

If your advisory arrived alongside high water, our guide to how to prepare for a flood covers the rest of what comes with it.

Three kinds of advisory, and why the difference matters

This is the part most articles skip, and it is the one that matters most. There are three different advisories, and treating one like another can make things worse.

Advisory	The concern	What to do
Boil water	Germs	Boil tap water, or use bottled.
Do not drink	Chemicals or toxins	Use bottled water for drinking and cooking. Do not boil it.
Do not use	Contact itself is unsafe	Bottled water for everything, including bathing.

Boiling only solves germs. If the problem is a chemical, boiling concentrates it as the water evaporates, which makes the water worse rather than better. That is why a "do not drink" notice never asks you to boil anything.

So read which of the three you actually received. They arrive by the same text message and they look almost identical at 7 a.m.

How do you boil water correctly?

The CDC's instructions are short.

• Bring it to a full rolling boil for one minute. A rolling boil means large bubbles breaking the surface continuously, not a gentle simmer.
• Above 6,500 feet, boil for three minutes. Water boils at a lower temperature at altitude, so it needs longer. If you live in the mountain west, this is your number, not the one-minute version.
• If the water is cloudy, pour it through a clean cloth, paper towel, or coffee filter first, or let it settle and pour off the clear water. Then boil it.
• Let it cool on its own, then store it in clean containers with tight lids.

Boiling a few large pots in the morning and letting them cool is easier than boiling water every time someone is thirsty.

What still needs boiled or bottled water?

More things than people expect, which is why advisories catch households out.

• Drinking, and anything you mix a drink with
• Cooking, unless the food will be at a rolling boil anyway
• Brushing teeth
• Making ice
• Washing produce you will eat raw
• Your pets' water bowls

Pets are the one people forget. They can get sick from many of the same germs, so the dog and the cat drink what you drink. Our pet emergency plan covers the rest of their supplies.

What can you still use the tap for?

This is the reassuring half, and it is bigger than most people assume.

• Handwashing. In many cases tap water and soap are still fine. Scrub for twenty seconds and rinse well. Follow your local officials, since some advisories say otherwise.
• Showering and bathing, as long as you do not swallow any. For babies and young children, a sponge bath reduces the chance of them getting a mouthful.
• Laundry. No change.
• Flushing toilets. No change.
• Plants and the garden. Tap water is fine.

You do not need to shut the house down. You need to be careful about what goes in a mouth.

The things almost everyone forgets

• The refrigerator ice maker and water dispenser. Both are plumbed to the same water line. Dump the ice made since the advisory started, because freezing does not kill germs, and skip the dispenser until it lifts.
• Your filter pitcher. A pitcher or faucet filter is built for taste and clarity, not for making unsafe water safe. Boil it anyway.
• The coffee maker. Most home brewers heat water without holding a true rolling boil. Brew with water you already boiled and cooled, or with bottled.
• Baby formula. Ready-to-use formula is the simplest option during an advisory.
• The kid who brushes their teeth on autopilot. Put a note on the bathroom mirror and a bottle of water on the counter. This is the one that gets everybody.

What do you do when it lifts?

The notice ending is not quite the last step.

• Run your cold taps for several minutes to flush the lines, following whatever instructions your utility gives.
• Dump the ice and run a couple of cycles through the ice maker before keeping any.
• Replace filter cartridges that were in use during the advisory, and flush the refrigerator's water line.
• Run the water heater through a full cycle of use before you trust it for anything you drink.

A question worth sitting with

If a boil notice arrived for your street tomorrow morning, how many days could your household go on what is already in the house?

For most families the honest answer is under a day. We worked through how much to keep and why it does not fit in a backpack in why your kit doesn't come with three days of water, and the arithmetic for different household sizes is in our guide to how much water your family actually needs.

The honest part

Our kits include water treatment, and during a boil water advisory the instructions that matter are your utility's, not ours.

Purification tablets and filters are built for water of uncertain safety, like a stream or a rain barrel, when you have no other option. An advisory is different: you have a working stove, a grocery store down the road, and a utility telling you exactly what the problem is. Boil it or buy it, and follow the notice you received.

Where a kit does earn its place is the version of this that arrives with a power outage or a flood, when the stove is off and the store is closed. Our 72-hour home emergency kits cover that, and the four cases in the closet cover the rest.

Frequently asked questions

How long do you boil water during a boil water advisory?
Bring it to a full rolling boil for one minute, or three minutes if you are above 6,500 feet, then let it cool before using it. A rolling boil means large bubbles breaking the surface continuously, not a simmer.

Can I use my filter pitcher instead of boiling?
No. Home filter pitchers and faucet filters are made for taste and clarity, not for making microbiologically unsafe water safe. The CDC advises boiling tap water even if it has been filtered.

Can I shower during a boil water advisory?
Usually yes, as long as you are careful not to swallow any water. For babies and young children, consider a sponge bath to reduce the chance of them swallowing it. Follow your local officials, since some advisories are stricter.

Is it safe to wash dishes during a boil water advisory?
Follow your utility's instructions, since guidance varies. Disposable plates and cups are the easiest option, and many advisories allow a dishwasher's hottest sanitize cycle.

Should I boil water during a "do not drink" advisory?
No. A do not drink notice means chemicals or toxins, and boiling concentrates them rather than removing them. Use bottled water and follow the exact notice you received.

Peace of mind, packed and ready.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, boil water advisory and drinking water advisory guidance; American Society of Civil Engineers, Report Card for America's Infrastructure, drinking water; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Sanitary Sewer Overflows.