A boil water advisory at home

A boil water advisory means germs may be in the tap water. For anything you or your family will swallow, use bottled water or tap water brought to a full rolling boil for 1 minute and cooled. Water from a home filter or a filter pitcher still needs boiling.

Drinking and cooking

• Drink only bottled water or boiled water that has cooled
• Use bottled or boiled water to cook and to prepare food
• Brush your teeth with bottled or boiled water
• Don't use the water or the ice from the refrigerator's dispenser
• Feed a baby breast milk or ready-to-use formula when you can
• Give pets bottled water or boiled water that has cooled

Washing up

• Use disposable plates and cups if you have them
• Run the dishwasher only on a sanitizing cycleA final rinse of at least 150°F also makes the dishwasher safe to use.
• Wash dishes by hand in hot water, then soak them in a bleach rinseAdd 1 teaspoon of unscented liquid bleach to each gallon of water, soak the dishes for at least a minute and let them air dry.
• Sanitize the baby bottles before each use
• Wash washable toys and counters with bottled, boiled or bleach-treated water

When you can't boil

• Let cloudy water settle, or filter it through a clean cloth or a coffee filter, before you treat it
• Treat clear water with unscented bleach labeled 5% to 9% sodium hypochloriteUse 8 drops for each gallon, and double it for cloudy or very cold water.
• Stir the water and let it stand at least 30 minutes before anyone drinks it
• Store the treated water in clean containers with tight lids

What can still use the tap

• Wash your hands with soap and tap water, unless the advisory says otherwise
• Shower or bathe, but keep the water out of your mouthGive babies and young children a sponge bath instead.
• Wash the laundry as usual
• Water the garden and the houseplants, including vegetables

A boil water advisory is different from a "do not drink" advisory. Boiling can't remove chemicals or toxins, so under a do-not-drink advisory use bottled water for drinking, cooking, ice, formula, brushing teeth and washing produce. Under the rarer "do not use" advisory, keep away from the tap water altogether.