Water ban lifted

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Be sure to run your cold water for a few minute and your hot water for about half an hour before drinking anything.

Comments

[cold-type.livejournal.com]

That's longer than the state recommends for most households. Here are the official guidelines:


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.

[ron_newman]

Unfortunately this does not say what I should do if I'm a tenant of a 50-unit apartment building with a central water heater.

Never use water from the “hot” faucet for drinking, cooking, or other internal-consumption purposes

is that "Never" as in forever, or just while we're recovering from this emergency?

[bettyw.livejournal.com]

It's not recommended to use hot water from the faucet for any internal consumption at any time - the idea is that if you have any lead (pipes or solder) or other undesirable stuff in your system, hot water is better at dissolving it. And in any case, how many people do you know who regularly drain their hot water tank to remove sludge etc that is always cooking in that hot water?

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I'd heard that long before anything happened to the water supply. The hot water draws more bad stuff you don't want to ingest out of your pipes than the cold.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

It's in general a bad idea, but particularly bad a this time. Various nasties are more likely to concentrate in water heaters than in cold water pipes.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

I do know quite a few people with tankless hot water systems, which are useful for getting fresh clean hot water as well as in quite a few other ways; your judgement may vary, but I'd happily drink it. (Which is not to say that I disagree with the MWRA's announcement per se, but it should at least be recognized as a set of ultraconservative one-size-fits-all recommendations.)

[jovianconsensus.livejournal.com]

Are they still chlorinating the hell out of the water for a while? My fingers were starting to feel a little wrinkly in the shower.

Good to know the water was fine all along.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/05/05/turns_out_water_was_ok_to_drink_after_all/