Precautionary Boil Water Notice Information

The Florida Department of Health Drinking Water Program, through the Florida Administrative Code, has changed how we issue Precautionary Boil Water Notices. Traditionally, these notices were issued only if water line breaks affected a certain number of homes and/or businesses and/or a certain number of people.

Recently, however, the Department of Health has stated that a Precautionary Boil Water Notice is necessary to be issued for any repair, service break, or alteration (such as moving a line) of any water transmission line of 3-inch or greater diameter. It also includes the interruption of service to any one residence for more than 8 hours, as well as the original outage criteria, which is 150 homes or businesses and/or 350 people.

A rolling boil for one minute is sufficient to kill any bacteria that may have entered a non-pressurized main, so that the product is safe for drinking or food preparation. The chlorine residual once was considered enough to take care of any of a low level contamination that could enter a broken pipe, along with adequate flushing at fire hydrants, but the State has taken a more conservative stance now.

We have always used the utmost caution in preventing any possible water contamination as we do maintenance or repairs, but this increase in notice coverage means that you are now more likely to be affected by a Precautionary Boil Water Notice. You should also keep in mind that many of our water line breaks are caused by a third party undertaking construction, and with the increase in city-wide construction, there is also an increase in these incidents.

Precautionary Boil Water Notices are hand delivered to each and every address affected.  Immediately upon fixing the problem, Water Treatment Plant operators take samples which are treated by our chemist and then read at the end of 24 hours. A second day’s sample is also taken, which has to incubate for 24 hours and then is read. Once we give an “all clear” bacteriological result for both days, water staff is standing by to blanket the affected area with Rescission Notices indicating that you can resume drinking without boiling.

Over the many years, it has been our experience that the service interruptions do not introduce contaminants into your drinking water; however, we will comply with the state’s new notification regulations. Please also keep in mind that for any situations that affect more than 1,000 homes/businesses, the Precautionary Boil Water Notice may come in the form of a radio or newspaper announcement and/or a telephone call.