Clean water helps ensure healthy communities. The City of Asheville is dedicated to ensuring safe, clean water for its residents, upholding extremely high standards and best practices that include rigorous testing.
As part of the City’s unswerving dedication to ensuring safe, clean water, the water is tested at all three of Asheville water treatment plants multiple times daily.
The City is now adding an additional measure to its portfolio of safety measures: Boil Water Advisories.
The City of Asheville is dedicated to a transparent system of customer notification regarding water quality and is taking an additional step of adding a Boil Water Advisory to its toolbox of best practices. City of Asheville employees consider this new procedure a way to further enhance the integrity and cleanliness of its water.
“The Boil Water Advisory program is being launched as a proactive way of ensuring that Asheville customers have safe drinking water if an issue arises with a waterline break,” said Water Resources Director Jade Dundas. “Our program is based upon other programs within the state. A lot of research has gone into making our program consistent and comprehensive.”
The City is adding an additional level of water safety procedures for customers to use in the event of pressure going below a certain level (20 psi) during a water pipe replacement or emergency repair.
What a Boil Water Advisory means to you
There are two levels of notices: a Boil Water Advisory and a Boil Water Notice. Here is the difference:
- A Boil Water Advisory is voluntarily issued when water contamination is possible. During an advisory we recommend that customers vigorously boil water for at least 1 minute before consumption or drink bottled water.
- A Boil Water Notice is required by law to be issued when contamination is confirmed in the water system. During a notice, affected customers must boil water before consumption or use bottled water.
Events that initiate a boil water notice/order or advisory
- Loss of pressure in the water system, or an affected area of the water system.
- A water main break that requires water to be turned off or the pipe has to be opened to the environment.
What should you do during a boil water notice/order or advisory?
- Boil tap water vigorously for a least one minute before using it for drinking, cooking, or any consumption. This includes water used for dental care, making ice, food preparation, or any other consumption purposes.
- It is not necessary to boil water for showering, laundry, or other non-consumptive uses.
How long should water be boiled?
Water should be boiled from the time the advisory is issued and continue until The City of Asheville officially lifts the advisory. During the time the advisory is in effect, the Water Resources Department is performing laboratory analysis to determine if the water is safe and meets all standards. An advisory can last from 24 hours to several days, depending on the event.
How will customers be notified about Boil Water Alerts?
To be notified of an alert, we strongly suggest water customers to sign up for Citizen Alerts on the City of Asheville website. You will find the link on the main page. By signing up, customers will be notified via text, email and telephone (home or cell).
Please sign up before January 9, 2017. This is when the City of Asheville Water Department will begin this Boil Water Advisory Program.
Notices about the Boil Water Advisory program are being mailed in City utility bills.
For more information, visit the City of Asheville Water Resources page.