American Water Issues Boil Water Advisories in Missouri, Indiana: What's it Mean?

boilng water in pot
Water boils in a pot on a stove on January 14, 2007, in Berlin, Germany. Several boil water advisories were issued across Indiana and Missouri Monday and Tuesday. Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Indiana and Missouri residents were dealing with a water boil order on Tuesday. There were several "boil water advisories" issued by Indiana American Water and Missouri American Water, all of which were listed on the company's website. When work is being done to water pipes or if there's a main break and the pressure drops below 20 pounds per square inch there has to be a boil advisory issued, according to Indiana American Water.

Water companies will either issue a precautionary boil water advisory when pressure is lost or a mandatory boil water advisory when some sort of contamination has been confirmed. Residents are warned not to drink any water when there is a water boil advisory without boiling it first.

In Gary, Indiana, residents on the 1900 block of W 12th Ave, the even addresses of W 13th Ave, and 1100 through the 1300 blocks of Garfield Street were all under the boil advisory. This was due to a planned outage.

The advisory was issued Monday evening and was expected to be in effect for 24 hours. Residents would have their water turned off around 8 a.m. CST and would be off and on for about eight hours during the day Tuesday. During the interruption residents in the affected areas were urged to bring any water they intended to use for drinking or cooking to a full rolling boil for three minutes before using it.

In Porter Beach/Dune Acres there was a main break that was causing a boil water advisory for residents on Tuesday. There was a water main break that would require the water to be turned off to certain areas in order to fix. The advisory was impacting customers from Summit Drive to Waverly Road on North US Highway 12. "Once repairs are made and water service is restored, customers in the affected area should bring their water to a rolling boil for 3 minutes before using water for drinking or cooking," said Indiana American Water.

Water in both Gary and in Porter Beach/Dune Acres was considered ok to use for bathing, washing and for other "common uses," Indiana American Water said.

In neighboring state Missouri, a boil water advisory was also issued for several areas. In Weldon Spring, Cottleville and O'Fallon there was a precautionary water boil advisory in place while the company took samples of the water and tested it to confirm that it was safe for consumption, American Water said. The boil advisory impacted roughly 1,500 customers total, the St.Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

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