Food & Water
Boil water advisory: what to boil, what to bottle and what to skip
A boil water advisory plus a power outage is the moment the county's instructions stop making sense: is the well water you pumped before the lights went out safe for dishes, or for your kids' toothbrushes? Here is the plain-English version, one job at a time.
On this page (12 sections)
- What a boil water advisory actually means
- The rolling-boil rule: one minute, three at altitude
- Room by room: what to boil, what to bottle and what to skip
- How to wash and disinfect dishes without safe tap water
- Your well, and the water you pumped before the power went out
- How much water to keep, and what this costs
- When the notice is lifted
- Troubleshooting a notice that won't cooperate
- When to get help
- Frequently asked questions
- Next in the manual
- Sources
A boil water advisory is the notice that says boil your water, and it can arrive while the power is already out. You are standing in the kitchen with a jug of well water you pumped before the pump died, trying to work out whether it is safe for the dinner plates or for the kids' toothbrushes. The short answer: for drinking, cooking, making ice or any prepared drink, brushing teeth and washing dishes, use water that has been boiled or that came from a sealed bottle — not straight from the tap, and not straight from your well.
What follows is the plain-English version of that notice: the rolling-boil rule, a bleach backup for when the stove has no power, and a room-by-room table that marks each job boil, bottle or skip. The steps come from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ready.gov, the CDC and two university Extension services, all listed at the bottom. Nothing here depends on buying gear, and this page recommends no product.
Key takeaways
- Boiled or bottled water is for drinking, cooking, making any prepared drink, washing dishes and brushing teeth (EPA).
- Hold a rolling boil for at least one minute; three minutes above 5,000 feet (1,000 meters) (EPA).
- Cloudy water gets settled and filtered through a clean cloth, paper towel or coffee filter first (EPA).
- No stove? Regular unscented bleach — 6% or 8.25% sodium hypochlorite — can disinfect water: 8 drops of 6% or 6 drops of 8.25% per gallon, then 30 minutes (EPA).
- Your private well is not covered by the utility's notice. If the water may be contaminated, boil it (Oregon State University Extension Service).
- Store at least one gallon of water per person per day for several days, for drinking and sanitation (Ready.gov).
The first ten minutes of a notice
- Stop using the tap for drinking, ice, cooking, dishes and toothbrushing, and tell everyone in the house.
- If the power is on, put the biggest pot you own on to boil. If it is out, set up the camp stove or grill outdoors only — never in a kitchen, garage, basement or crawl space — at least 20 feet from doors, windows and vents, with a battery carbon monoxide alarm inside (CDC).
- Fill one labeled jug with cooled boiled water and keep it by the bathroom sink for teeth and faces.
What a boil water advisory actually means
A boil water advisory — also called a boil water notice or order — comes from your water utility or local health authority when something has interrupted or damaged the system, such as a flood, a broken water main or a treatment problem. The EPA describes it plainly: local authorities may recommend using only bottled water, boiled water or disinfected water until regular water service is restored.
Two details in the wording matter. Boiling and disinfection kill most disease-causing microorganisms, but the EPA is clear that they will not destroy other contaminants such as heavy metals, salts and most other chemicals. And if your notice says not to use the water at all, that is a stronger instruction than "boil it" — follow it exactly.
Searching "boil water advisory near me" usually lands on news coverage, but an advisory belongs to a specific water system, not a region. The version that applies to your house is the one from the utility or county health department that serves your address; check your water bill for the system's name, then look for that name on their site or alert line. If you pay no water bill because your house runs on a private well, no utility notice covers you either way — see the well section below.
The rolling-boil rule: one minute, three at altitude
Boiling is the safest treatment for water that may carry bacteria, viruses or protozoa, and the EPA's version is shorter than most people expect.
Settle and filter cloudy water first
Let cloudy water settle, then pour it through a clean cloth, paper towel or coffee filter, so you are not boiling a pot of grit (EPA).
Done when: the water in the pot is reasonably clear.
Bring it to a rolling boil and hold it
Not a simmer and not steam at the rim: a rolling boil held for at least one minute. Above 5,000 feet (1,000 meters) the EPA says three minutes, and Oregon State University Extension Service gives three minutes above 6,500 feet, so three minutes covers both.
Done when: the pot has boiled hard for the full time.
Cool it naturally, cover it and label it
Let it cool on its own, then pour it into clean containers with covers. Oregon State University Extension Service advises labeling the container "Drinking Water" and writing the date, so nobody mistakes it for tap water. If the flat taste bothers anyone, add a pinch of salt per quart or pour the water between two clean containers several times (EPA).
Done when: the jug is cool, covered, labeled and drinkable.
Keep two containers going: one by the kitchen sink for drinking, cooking and anything that touches food, and one in the bathroom for teeth and faces.
If you can't boil: disinfect with plain bleach
No power, no fuel, no safe place outdoors for a stove? Regular unscented chlorine bleach will disinfect water, and the EPA gives the exact amounts. The bleach must be suitable for disinfection as stated on its label, contain 6% or 8.25% sodium hypochlorite, and be fresh or stored at room temperature for less than a year.
| Amount of water | 6% bleach | 8.25% bleach |
|---|---|---|
| 1 quart or liter | 2 drops | 2 drops |
| 1 gallon | 8 drops | 6 drops |
| 2 gallons | 16 drops (1/4 teaspoon) | 12 drops (1/8 teaspoon) |
| 4 gallons | 1/3 teaspoon | 1/4 teaspoon |
| 8 gallons | 2/3 teaspoon | 1/2 teaspoon |
Stir it and let it stand 30 minutes. The water should have a slight chlorine smell; if it doesn't, repeat the dose and let it stand another 15 minutes. If the chlorine taste is too strong, pour it between clean containers and let it stand a few hours. Double the dose for cloudy, colored or very cold water — after filtering, not before.
Bleach that isn't bleach
Scented bleach, color-safe bleach and bleach with added cleaners are not for disinfecting water, according to the EPA. Never mix bleach with other cleaners, and never use bleach as a substitute for a notice that says the water should not be used at all. Disinfection is a microbe step only; it will not remove chemicals.
Room by room: what to boil, what to bottle and what to skip
Most of the confusion comes from treating every faucet the same. Below, "boil" means boiled and cooled, "bottle" means sealed bottled water — and if you have no bottles, boiled water does the same job.
| The job | Answer | Why, or how to do it |
|---|---|---|
| Drinking water | Boil or bottle | EPA lists drinking among the uses that need properly disinfected water |
| Ice cubes and the ice maker | Boil or bottle | Freeze cooled boiled or bottled water, and switch the ice maker off during the notice |
| Coffee, tea, juice from concentrate, baby formula | Boil or bottle | EPA includes cooking and making any prepared drink |
| Brushing teeth | Boil or bottle | EPA includes brushing teeth; keep a jug by the bathroom sink |
| Washing dishes | Boil or bottle | EPA includes washing dishes; the method is two sections down |
| Rinsing fruit and vegetables you'll eat raw | Boil or bottle | Anything going into a mouth unpeeled gets treated water, and so does the water it cooks in |
| Baby bottles and sippy cups | Boil or bottle | Wash and rinse them like dishes; mix formula with bottled or boiled-and-cooled water |
| Pet water bowls | Follow your notice, then ask your vet | The notice is what covers the water your pets drink too. Keep a jug of stored water for their bowls, and ask your veterinarian about any pet with special needs |
| Handwashing | Follow your notice | The notice should say whether tap water is fine for washing hands; use soap, and rinse with treated water when you have it |
| Bathing and showering | Follow your notice | Advisories differ, so use the wording in yours and call the number on it with questions, including about small children who might swallow water |
| Laundry, flushing toilets, houseplants and the garden | Skip | Wash and water as usual, then wash your hands; water from a toilet tank or bowl is never a drinking source (Virginia Cooperative Extension) |
| The water you pumped before the outage | Boil if there's doubt | Treat it as stored water — see the well section below |
Two rows are worth repeating out loud to the household: the bathroom sink is the same water as the kitchen sink, and the pet bowl is filled from that same tap. Amounts for the dog and the rest of the animal plan are in the pet emergency kit guide.
How to wash and disinfect dishes without safe tap water
Washing dishes is on the EPA's list of jobs that need properly disinfected water, which surprises most people. The reason is simple: a dishcloth dunked in suspect water spreads it back over every plate. Use a three-pan method with boiled or bottled water instead of filling the sink from the tap.
Scrape and wipe first
Paper-towel off grease and food so the wash water stays usable for the whole stack.
Done when: the plates are scraped and the sink is empty.
Wash and rinse in treated water only
Hot soapy water made from boiled-and-cooled or bottled water, then a second pan of clean treated water. Not a sink full of tap water, or you have undone the wash.
Done when: everything has been through both pans.
Sanitize using your county's dish instructions
Many advisories print a sanitizing rinse for dishes alongside the drinking-water doses. Use theirs exactly, because a dish sanitizing strength is not the same as the drops-per-gallon used to make drinking water safe. If your notice gives no dish instructions, call the number on it and ask rather than guessing.
Done when: the sanitizing step follows written guidance from your utility or health department.
Air dry on a rack
Let everything drip dry rather than toweling it, which puts the cloth back on the clean plate.
Done when: the rack is full and the towel is in the laundry.
The dishwasher fills from the same tap, so it doesn't solve the problem during a notice. Paper plates for a few days, plus the pan method for what you actually eat from, keeps the pile manageable. Toothbrushes get the same treatment as dishes: rinse them under the jug of boiled water, not the tap, and let them air dry apart.
Your well, and the water you pumped before the power went out
If your house runs on a private well with an electric pump, the town's advisory may not mention you at all, because no utility is sampling your water. That does not make the well automatically safe or automatically unsafe; it means the decision is yours, based on what happened. Floodwater over the wellhead, a damaged casing, repairs to the pump or lines, or a long outage with no treatment are all reasons to treat the water as suspect.
For water from a well or spring that is known to be free of pathogens but is not chemically treated, Oregon State University Extension Service says to purify it by boiling or with unscented household liquid chlorine bleach, and that boiling is the safest method of treating water. If you want to know whether the well itself is still sound, ask your county health department about testing before drinking it untreated.
- The plumbing holds water: use every drop at each faucet, and draw the last of it from the lowest faucet, since water drains downhill (Oregon State University Extension Service).
- If you are warned that the supply is unsafe or you see broken lines, shut off the line coming into the house and plug the bathtub and sink drains (Oregon State University Extension Service).
- The water heater holds drinkable water: turn off the gas or electricity first, close the valve at the top, open a hot-water faucet to let air in, rinse the drain valve, then draw water as needed — and refill the tank before turning the power or gas back on (Virginia Cooperative Extension).
- Never use water from toilet tanks or bowls, or from a swimming pool, for drinking or cooking; water collected in a tub or sink is for washing and pets unless you treat it first (Virginia Cooperative Extension).
The jugs you filled before the pump stopped are worth keeping. Store them in a dark, dry, consistently cool place, away from cleaning supplies, fertilizer and anything with a strong odor, and replace water in your own containers every six months (Oregon State University Extension Service). If you can't remember when you filled them, boil before drinking.
If the outage is the bigger problem right now, the power outage walkthrough covers the fridge, the freezer and the heat. How much to keep on hand is in emergency water storage, and how to choose water storage containers covers what to put it in.
How much water to keep, and what this costs
Boiling is the cheapest water treatment there is: the water is already in the house and the fuel for a pot is pennies. Bottled water is the fallback for the hours you can't boil, which is a grocery expense, not a gear purchase. Ready.gov advises storing at least one gallon of water per person per day for several days, for drinking and sanitation; an illustrative household of four is four gallons a day before pets, coffee or dishwashing are counted.
Stored water has dates. Sealed store-bought bottled water is safe to store until the date on the label, usually one or two years, while water in food-grade, BPA-free, airtight containers you fill at home keeps up to 6 to 12 months (Virginia Cooperative Extension). Oregon State University Extension Service suggests replacing water in your own containers every six months and keeping it in a dark, dry, consistently cool place, away from cleaning supplies, fertilizer and anything with a strong odor.
What you do not need for any of this: a generator, a countertop filter system or a bulk food bucket. Every step above works with a pot, a heat source, a jug and — if you can't boil at all — plain unscented bleach. If the power is likely to go out too, the power outage kit guide covers heat, light and a way to cook outdoors safely, and the food and water section puts those jobs in order.
Where these steps come from
Every number on this page is taken from the EPA, Ready.gov, the CDC or a university Extension service and linked in the Sources list, so you can open the original and read it yourself. We use the same rule for canning: those guides follow tested USDA and National Center for Home Food Preservation methods, cite them, and keep product talk out of the how-to pages.
When the notice is lifted
An advisory ends when the utility or health department says it ends — not when the water looks clear, and not after a set number of days. On a private well, "lifted" means your own test results come back clean, which is a conversation with your county health department.
Follow the flushing instructions you're given
Utilities usually ask households to run the cold taps for a while to clear the lines. Use the steps printed in your notice, because systems differ.
Done when: you have done the flushing exactly as written in your notice.
Dump the ice and refill the water heater
Toss ice made during the advisory and clean the bin before making more. Refill the water heater before turning the gas or electricity back on, following the manufacturer's directions (Virginia Cooperative Extension).
Done when: the ice bin is clean and the tank is full.
Wash the containers
Jugs, bottles, pet bowls and the toothbrush cup get washed and air dried before normal use.
Done when: every container that held advisory water has been washed.
Keep a day or two of boiled water anyway
The next notice will be much less stressful if the water is already labeled and on the shelf.
Done when: two labeled jugs are back in the cupboard.
Troubleshooting a notice that won't cooperate
- If the water comes back brown or cloudy
- Run the cold taps until it clears, don't drink it while it is discolored, and call the utility. Discolored water is a signal to ask, not to guess.
- If you have no way to boil and no plain bleach
- Switch to bottled water for drinking, teeth and dishes, and use paper plates to cut the washing down. Never substitute scented, color-safe or added-cleaner bleach (EPA).
- If someone drank tap water before you saw the notice
- Don't panic: some notices are precautionary, but follow the instructions in your own notice and call a health care provider if anyone becomes ill.
- If the power is out and the pump is dead
- Draw from the water heater and pipes as described above, treat that water as stored water, and boil it before drinking if it might be contaminated.
- If the notice keeps getting extended
- Boil in batches morning and evening, keep two labeled jugs cycling, and lean on no-cook meals so the dish pile stays small.
When to get help
Call for help if
- Anyone has severe stomach symptoms or signs of dehydration, or a baby, toddler or older adult becomes ill after drinking questionable water: call a health care provider, or 911 if it is serious.
- A carbon monoxide alarm sounds while you boil water on a camp stove or grill: get everyone outside first, then call 911 from outdoors.
- The water smells of fuel or chemicals, or the notice says not to use it for anything: call the utility or your local emergency management office before using a drop.
- Your well has been flooded or the casing damaged: ask your county health department about testing before drinking the water untreated.
Who to ask. In an emergency, call 911. If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds or anyone feels dizzy, sick or confused, get everyone outside into fresh air first, then call 911. Report outages and downed power lines to your utility. For local hazards, shelters and alerts, contact your city or county emergency management office (start at Ready.gov).
Frequently asked questions
What is a boil water advisory?
A notice from your water utility or local health authority saying the water may contain disease-causing organisms, so you should use only bottled, boiled or disinfected water until service is restored (EPA). It applies to a specific water system, not a whole region, and can follow a flood, a water main break or a treatment problem.
How long do I have to boil the water?
Bring it to a rolling boil and hold it there at least one minute. Above 5,000 feet (1,000 meters) the EPA says three minutes, and Oregon State University Extension Service gives three minutes above 6,500 feet, so three minutes covers both.
How do I disinfect dishes with bleach?
Wash them in hot soapy water made from boiled-and-cooled or bottled water, rinse in clean treated water, then use the sanitizing strength your county health department publishes for dishes — it is not the same as the drops-per-gallon used to make drinking water safe. Air dry on a rack. If your notice gives no dish instructions, call the number on it and ask.
Can I shower during a boil water advisory?
Advisories differ, so follow the wording in your own notice and use the phone number on it to ask, including about small children who might swallow water. Keep boiled-and-cooled water by the sink for face washing and teeth, and rinse hands with treated water when you have it.
Where do I find the boil water advisory near me?
From the utility or county health department that serves your address — their website, alert sign-up or phone line — rather than from national news. Check your water bill for the system's name, then search for that name. On a private well, no utility notice applies to you, and the question becomes whether the well itself was affected.
Is my well water safe during a boil water advisory?
No one can tell from the notice alone, because the notice is about the public system. If the wellhead was flooded, the casing or pump was damaged, or you simply don't know, treat the water as suspect: Oregon State University Extension Service says well or spring water that isn't chemically treated should be purified by boiling or with unscented bleach, and that boiling is the safest method.
Sources
- Emergency Disinfection of Drinking Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (accessed October 29, 2026).
- Water, Ready.gov, FEMA (accessed October 29, 2026).
- Carbon Monoxide (CO) Poisoning Basics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (accessed October 29, 2026).
- Emergency Water Supply and Storage (BSE-209), Virginia Cooperative Extension (accessed October 29, 2026).
- Emergency Water Storage and Purification (EM 9285), Oregon State University Extension Service (accessed October 29, 2026).
Water first, then the rest of the plan
The Food and Water section puts storing, treating and rotating water in order, with the power-outage and food-safety guides next to them.