Many kinds of emergencies can affect the safety of your drinking water. For example, natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes may reduce your drinking water supply without warning. Planning for this ensures you have safe drinking water in an emergency. But if you didn’t plan ahead, know what to do as the system recovers. Get tips on storing and disinfecting your water supply.
- Listen to public announcements about the safety of the public water supply.
- Do not use contaminated water to wash dishes, brush your teeth, wash and prepare food, or make ice.
- Drink only bottled, boiled, or treated water until your supply is tested and safe.
- Disinfect private wells that flood and may be contaminated.