Active Boil Water Advisories and Planned Outages

Active Boil Water Advisories and Planned Outages

OWASA customers are encouraged to sign up for OC Alerts in order to receive electronic notices of any outages affecting your address. Please be sure to select OWASA Alerts in the “Non-Emergency Alerts” subscription section of the sign-up process.

Active Boil Water Advisories

Link to Boil Water Advisory FAQ

Preparation for Planned Outages

Below you can find tips for preparing for a planned water outage.

Drinking water

Clean pitchers or containers can be filled in advance for drinking water during the outage and subsequent boil water advisory. Once water service is restored, you will be advised to boil your tap water for an anticipated timeframe of 24-28 hours until testing confirms the water remains safe to drink.

Toilets

When water service is off, a toilet with a tank can be flushed as it typically would be one time. When you flush a toilet, the tank will be empty until your service is restored or you can refill the tank with water from a container. You can flush a toilet in most cases by pouring 1-2 gallons of water directly into the bowl. Before the outage, consider storing some water in a bucket or bathtub for this purpose.

Turn off faucets, spigots and other water-using devices during the service interruption

When we turn your water back on, if the meter shows active use and you are not available, we will turn the water back off to prevent possible water waste and/or property damage from water running unattended. We will leave a notice that the water is off and ask you to contact us at 919-968-4421 (24-hour number) to get water service turned back on.

Water discoloration

We will release water from fire hydrants after the work to bring fresh water into the pipes. This may cause discoloration or air bubbles in the tap water. To clear up discoloration, please run cold water through a faucet for 5 to 10 minutes.  If the water does not clear, please contact us at 919-968-4421 (24-hour number).

For more information

Find questions and answers about boil water advisories here.