When a Boil Water Order is issued, what does it mean for you?

Major disasters do happen, as Hurricane Harvey and other hurricanes have been proving over the years. Flooding everywhere, but do you have clean water?

Your local government or water provider will be the ones who declare public tap water unsafe for consumption and issue a boil order.

Boil orders are issued to provide time for local authorities to retest and reset their systems when a high level of bacteria is found in a water source, this could include cryptosporidium and E. coli.

What does a boil order mean for you?

If the water is used for drinking, cooking, or if it will come in contact with any orifice of your body, i.e. brushing your teeth, rinsing eyes, bathing small children and bathing of people with weak immune systems, etc. you must bring the water to a rolling boil for at least 1 minute.

Then let it cool and use or store for later use in a sterilized container.

Having bottled water or stored water in a water barrel on hand before the disaster is also a really good idea.

When washing hands, it has to be with purified water or hand sanitizers.

If you have a good water filter like the Berkey, You do not need to boil the water.

Just pour the raw water in the top reservoir and let the filter elements do the rest.

However, as an additional precaution, if using a source of water that you believe might contain extreme viral and bacteriological contamination such as E. coli, it is recommended by the CDC, EPA and other organizations that approximately sixteen drops of plain bleach (sodium hypochlorite) or iodine per gallon be added to treat the source water before purifying. This should kill minute pathogens such as viruses, within 30 minutes. Simply add the drops to a pitcher of water, wait a half hour and then pour the treated water into the top chamber of your system. The disinfectant will be removed from the treated water entirely with the Berkey^® system, including any odor or taste.

Storing water is easy check out our water storage containers and accessories here.

Be Safe and Prepared for whatever comes your way.

The Survival Center Farm and Prepper Team

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