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Water Outages
Boil Water Advisories (BWA)
Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Department of Health require JEA to issue precautionary boil water advisories to customers under several drinking water outage circumstances. Boil water advisories are required when:
- The outage impacts a large geographic area or a large population (more than 350 people or more than 150 metered services); or
- The duration of the outage has or is anticipated to last more than 8 hours; or
- Field crews suspect the water quality may have been jeopardized during the outage.
Boil water advisories are issued as a precaution until samples can be analyzed by a laboratory to ensure the drinking water did not get contaminated. It typically takes up to 48 hours for a laboratory to determine if the water is safe. It is very rare for laboratory results to indicate the drinking water is not safe as a result of a water outage. However, JEA issues these boil water advisories on the conservative side of public safety.
Boil water advisories may also be issued to specific high risk customers who have experienced a water outage regardless of whether or not the overall geographic area or duration of the outage would meet the above criteria. High risk customers include the very old or very young who are more susceptible to waterborne illnesses (e.g. nursing homes, day care centers), as well as restaurants and healthcare centers.
Customers should boil water used for drinking and food preparation or use bottled water for those purposes while the BWA is in effect. Water used for these purposes should be brought to a rolling boil for a minimum of one minute prior to use for drinking, food preparation, or cooking.
In the event of a power outage, customers may disinfect water using common household bleach. Customers should only use common household bleach that has 5 to 6 percent active ingredients and only use food grade containers. Customers should NOT use bleach that has perfume scents added (e.g. do NOT use lemon scented bleach, etc.).
- Approximately eight (8) drops of bleach (which is about 1/8th of a teaspoon) should be added to one (1) gallon of tap water, shaken, and allowed to stand for 30 minutes before drinking.
- If the water is cloudy, approximately sixteen (16) drops of bleach (which is about 1/4 of a teaspoon) should be added to one (1) gallon of tap water, shaken, and allowed to stand for 30 minutes. There may be a slight chlorine odor and taste.
- For bleach with varying levels of sodium hypochlorite, please check the CDC’s website for more detailed instructions.
Restaurants should only serve bottled beverages or drinks prepared with boiling water. Food should not be prepared with water that has not been boiled. Employees should have alternate means of washing their hands to ensure cleanliness before handling food instead of using water directly from a faucet. Restaurants should contact the Department of Health, Department of Environmental Protection, or Bureau of Hotels and Restaurants for further instruction.
- For planned BWAs, we'll notify you prior to the event occurring. You are given at least two days notice for planned events, so that you can prepare for the BWA.
- For unplanned BWAs, in the case of an unplanned water main break or pressure loss, you will be notified as soon as possible if a BWA is needed.
In both cases, JEA will alert you using one or all of the following methods:
- Hand-delivered door hangers from JEA water crews.
- Hand-delivered notices from JEA contractors.
- Email, text, or phone call notifying residential customers and businesses of the BWA. If you receive an email, text, or phone call, you will also receive a notification when the BWA has been lifted.
If an event affects a large amount of people, BWA signs may be used in lieu of hand-delivered notices. When the Incident Response group is informed that the results of the sampling are all clear, a lifting notice is drafted. BWA signs are then replaced with BWA lifted signs. If an outage appears to cover a large scale, media outlets are also notified as another layer of public notification.
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Water Notices
Current water service interruptions and water advisories in JEA's water service territory.