Governor Patrick lifted the boil water order in all MWRA communities early this morning after tests showed that water had returned to normal. Here is the information from the Governor’s office statement about how to restore clean drinking water to your home:
Guidelines for water use going forward are as follows:
Residents are advised to “flush” their water following the lifting of the boil order in order to clear plumbing of potentially contaminated water. Flushing your household and building water lines includes interior and exterior faucets; showers; water and ice dispensers; water treatment units, etc.
Cold Water Faucets: Run tap water until the water feels cold, 1 minute or more, before drinking, tooth brushing, or using for food preparation.
Hot Water Faucets: To clear hot water pipes and water heater of untreated water, turn on all hot water faucets and flush for a minimum of 15 minutes for a typical household 40-gallon hot water tank and 30 minutes for an 80-gallon hot water tank or larger. Never use water from the “hot” faucet for drinking, cooking, or other internal-consumption purposes. After this flushing, hot water is then safe to use for washing hands, and for hand-washing of dishes, pots and pans, etc.
Refrigerators: Water dispensers from refrigerators should be flushed by at least one quart of water.
Dishwashers: After flushing hot water pipes and water heater, run dishwasher empty one time.
Humidifiers: Discard any water used in humidifiers, Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), oral, medical or health care devices, and rinse the device with clean water.Food and baby formula: Be sure you have discarded any baby formula or other foods prepared with water on the days of the boil order. (If unsure of the dates contact your water Department.)
Ice cubes: Automatic ice dispensers should be emptied of ice made during the boil order. Then, discard ice made over an additional 24 hour period to assure complete purging of the water supply line.
Due to the flushing of the lines by residents and the flushing of the hydrants, some customers may experience a lack of water pressure and/or discolored water. However, this is an expected result and does not pose a health risk. Contact your local Water Department if you have any questions.
Additional information for food establishments can be found at http://www.mwra.com
Given the 18-hour preincubation time, the samples tested last night would have been gathered when the dirtiest water was running through the pipes. If the bacterial count had been significant, it would seem unlikely that the ban would have been lifted this morning.
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p>Withholding the data, then, could be a way to encourage us to think the worst about the water we avoided ingesting — thereby enhancing gratitude toward those who protected us from it? — at the expense of quite a bit of wasted water.
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p>(Not that I minded having a reason to take an extra long shower this morning – with no guilt for depleting the hot water tank.)
I watched the ongoing news from a region with no ginormous water plant (and some towns with no residential town water at all, only wells). I wondered if there is a limit to ‘regionalization’.
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p>Had there been a burst like this around here – but there HAVE been. But the problem was confined to a neighborhood or village by having different pumping stations and purification facilities. My town has a water district rather than a town department, and they operate the mains and pumping wells with multiple sources and some overlap with other towns.
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p>I’m not saying to go all crazy like Barnstable which has 4 different water companies with different rates servicing the single town – but is it SMART to have the water supply for literally millions of people flowing through a single bottleneck with apparently no redundancies?
is that they are in the process of building a backup system for the pipe that failed. They thought they had more time, because the pipe is only 7 years old. Oopsie.
If you have a Multi-Pure water filter, look here for instructions regarding disinfection of the system and filter replacement.
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p>If you have another brand of filter, I’d recommend checking out their web site or calling.