When there’s a boil water advisory, your tap water isn’t safe to drink or use as usual. The following information tells you how to be careful with water during an advisory and what to do when the advisory ends. See Boiling and storing water to learn how to make your water safe to drink.

​​Drinking water and preparing food

What to do during a boil water advisory:

• Don't drink tap water or use it to make food, wash fruits and vegetables, cook rice, make juice, or mix baby formula.
• Throw away any ice, drinks, or food made with tap water—even if it was filtered.
• Don’t use home water filters to clean the water. They aren’t strong enough to remove harmful germs.

Cleaning surfaces and washing dishes

During a boil water advisory, any surfaces that touch food—such as counters, dishes, and cutting boards—must be washed with soap and water, rinsed, and then sanitized.

To sanitize counters after you wash them, add 5 millilitres (1 teaspoon) of unscented liquid chlorine bleach (5.25%) to 1 litre of bottled or cooled boiled water. Use the mixture to spray or wipe the counter.

To sanitize dishes after washing them:

1. Add 10 millilitres (2 teaspoons) of liquid unscented chlorine bleach (5.25%) to 5 litres of tap water in an empty sink. Don't add soap.
2. Soak the dishes for 2 minutes.
3. Take the dishes out of the sink and let them air dry.

It’s safe to use tap water for laundry and cleaning surfaces that don’t touch food, such as walls or floors. It’s also safe to use a dishwasher on either the high-heat setting or the sanitize cycle.

Bathing and cleaning your body

Here’s what to know about bathing and cleaning yourself during a boil water advisory:

• Don't use tap water to brush your teeth—use bottled water or boiled water instead.
• You can use tap water to shower and bathe. Watch small children closely to make sure they don't drink the water. But don't use tap water to fill a wading pool, play areas, or water play tables.
• ​You can use tap water to wash your hands. Always use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol after you wash your hands with soap and tap water.

What to do after the advisory ends

Here’s how to flush, clean, and sanitize areas that have contact with water after the boil water advisory ends:

• Flush all water-using fixtures by running the hot and cold taps for five minutes.  If your service connection is long or complex (e.g. large building), consider working with maintenance staff to coordinate flushing.
• For multi-storey and large buildings, maintenance staff can flush taps starting on the bottom floor closest to the service connection by running the hot and cold taps for five minutes. Once every faucet on the entire floor has been flushed for five minutes, move to the next floor, and continue the procedure until the fixtures and faucets on all floors are flushed.​
• Make sure equipment with water line connections, such as refrigerator water and ice  dispensers are drained, flushed, cleaned and disinfected according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. 
• Read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for flushing, cleaning, and sanitizing cisterns (containers that store drinking water), water filters, and ice and water dispensers.
• You may need to drain and refill hot-water tanks if there was a loss of power or gas to the tank for an extended period (e.g. evacuation events).​
• Run water softeners through a regeneration cycle. Follow the instructions from the manufacturer.

​​More information

Learn more about safety during a boil water advisory from Alberta Health Services Environmental Public Health​.