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SideburnSundays t1_j1nry1y wrote

Memphis had a boil water notice as well, and they always gloat about their tap water. Why do cold temperatures cause a boil water notice when in normal temperatures there’s no pathogens to boil?

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quats5 t1_j1nskmt wrote

There’s no pathogens in a correctly functioning system.

When something breaks — water pressure drops, or a pipe breaks in a freeze, for example — this can allow random outside stuff into the system, and now who knows what’s in your water, until they can get it sealed off, back up to pressure, and flushed through.

It might be fine. It might be lightly contaminated but good enough unless you are immune compromised or get it in your contacts or up your nose. Or it might be more heavily or dangerously contaminated. So they play it safe.

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Hiddencamper t1_j1q0e65 wrote

Pressure in the pipes forced things to leak OUT, not IN.

If you lose water pressure, you have risk of bacteria moving into the pipes and intermingling until you get appropriate system flushing. So until the system is flushed out, you issue boil orders.

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