A major water main broke Friday in the city that supplies my drinking water. While we weren't without water as many were, we are under a "boil water for 5 minutes" order at this time. The most recent tests of the water came back clean, except for one area of 31 areas that was "inconclusive". Further results are expected today.

My question is: 5 minutes? What am I killing in there? They say fecal coliform - I don't think 5 minutes is required to kill that!! I've been using some bottled water we were given for drinking, and an electric teapot to boil what we need for cooking. Frankly, I'm not real worried about getting sick, but an ounce of prevention...

It's funny to hear people whine about who is going to pay for the bottled water "they need". I wonder if I can sell my recipe for boiled water to those clowns? I could make hundreds of cents doing so...wooo hooo

For someone in good health, where the worry is simple bacteria, bringing the water to a good, rolling boil is probably enough.

But the population includes the very young, the very old, and people with existing conditions or compromised immune systems. They're more vulnerable, and a gastrointestinal problem can set off a cascade of events.

A water main break can introduce various organisms -- there are too many unknowns. IIRC, some bacterial and amoebic nasties are harder to kill in the spore/dormant stage.

Given the potential legal implications, they're probably erring on the side of caution.

The length of time to boil water varies all over the map. I am sure your authorities were being overly cautious. My favorite authority, James Wilkerson, MD, in Medicine for Mountaineering, Fourth Edition, states:

"Even though water boils at a lower temperature at higher altitudes, the boiling temperature and the time required to reach that temperature are adequate to kill disease-producing microorganisms, including parasitic cysts, bacteria, and viruses....(Milk is pasteurized by heating it to 160F, or 71 C.)"
p.70-71.

The temperature for pasteurized milk is roughly the boiling point of water on the summit of Everest.

One reason for the longer recommended times for boiling may lie in the circumstance where you are sterilizing cloth for wound dressing. As I understand it, you need to that material for a longer period of time - I have no citations for that concept, however

It very well may have, Izzy. It's the same thing many of us experience when we travel to less developed countries on vacation and get a case of the runs--the locals have been living with the bugs in the water all of their lives while we haven't. The locals may still get sick from certain microbes or parasites, but many bugs don't bother them. Same thing with the boil order--some folks can get quite sick simply because they're not used to certain microbes that might be present in the suspect water.

Dougwalkabout makes an excellent point about erring on the side of caution when they suggest boiling for 5 minutes. There are just too many people with weak immune systems using municipal water to not try to be thorough. Heck, even during normal times, many of these people still need to boil the tap water.

It's an interesting topic as we enter the 21st century. Is the disinfecting/antiseptic/antibiotic/sterilize-everything approach the best way to live within a world teeming with microbes, or might strengthening our innate immunity and overall health, and living more in balance with nature, be more sustainable and effective over the long term? We already know that with antibiotics, we're "running out of bullets" as they say. And the lack of microbes appear to be harming our younger generations since humans involved to live with many microbes, particularly in our gut. The increase in asthma and allergies have been linked to this "Hygiene Hypothesis".

It may be hard to believe, but many immune functions require the presence of certain bacteria in our gut. Most of us would think that our bodies are totally self-contained and can carry out whatever functions it needs on its own, but that is turning out not to be true. We need microbes (certain ones, at least)!

Re: the 5-minute 'rule'...

They're probably erring on the side of caution because of a serious lack of common sense in a large part of the population.

The other reason is probably because a lot of people are unfamilar with boiling water. "Ah... just how should be go about that?"

Sue

Aside: Sue, I recall a "bachelor's survival" cookbook subtitled "Or, How Long do you Cook a 3-minute Egg?" Always cracks me up.

From the NOLS Wilderness Medicine book (page 250, 2008 edition):

"Incorrect information persists on how long to boil water before it is disinfected. The common diarrhea-causing microorganisms are sensitive to heat and are killed immediately by boiling water. The protozoa Giardia and Amoeba die after 2 to 3 minutes at 140 F (60 C). Viruses, diarrhea-producing bacteria, and Cryptosporidium cysts die within minutes at 150 F (65 C). By the time water boils, it is safe to drink."

Good luck!

Some bacteria are tougher than others, as Clostridium botulinum will survive boiling water for a considerable time, although the toxin is destroyed. To inactivate, it would probably be a good idea to give the water a blast with a Steripen as well, just to make sure.

This brings up an interesting side point -- Is a BIG pot a good piece of home gear?
2-10 liters? To sit on the stove for a water boil?

For one reason or another, I have usually boiled by water in order to purify it. I would obtain a large container suitable for boiling (I believe the largest I have is about 18 L - 20 quarts). I have many smaller ones as well which I often prefer for ease and safe handling. Your container should match your stove's capability - don't try to use a large container with a small heat source.

I sometimes boil a small container so that I can immerse it in a cool water bath in order to reduce the temperature. Having a big pot just gives you more options.

The boil water situation was resolved last night. We got a reverse 911 call about 6:15pm, which was nice as we got no such call to tell us to boil water.

Judging from comments on the local paper website, I'd guess half to 2/3ds of the people in town were clueless on how to boil water. I swear, I coulda made a small, very small, fortune on selling the recipes.

We just used an electric teapot, 2 liters, to quickly boil the water and put it into pitchers, then into the fridge. Not like we don't have a stack of bottled water in the garage anyhow, but this wasn't a "real" emergency.

Are you really saying half to two thirds of your local residents don't know how to make a cup of tea or soft boil an egg. Sorry I'm a little confused, how do these folks survive everyday life in a large metropolis like New York?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kieGBkOdyMU

BTW its probably not a good idea to tell these folks where milk comes from.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXCuGvsThEw

I guess this could really happen.

Not a bad idea.

A backpacking or camping type stove is in order as well. In a big storm, earthquake, terrorist attack, the gas and electricity might be knocked out as well as the water polluted.

HJ

I assume my gas supply will be interrupted by The Big One (or whatever). Fortunately my camp gear involves stoves ranging from Coleman two burners to canister stoves to the itty-bitty Tibetan Ti Wing. You gotta have heat....

Am-Fear: There was an article in the paper, two ladies were complaining about the price of bottled water, saying they couldn't afford it (altho one had an expensive weave and a cell phone in hand) and wanted the local water company to pay for it.

Several people chimed in, saying that the prices on bottled water had gone up. Altho, the local gas company was giving away bottled water, free, just show up and take home a 35 pack. But that would have entailed making an effort.

So I guess there are a lot of people who can't "boil water". I guess they eat out a lot, I don't know. It wasn't that big a deal to me, but appears the sky was falling for some people. They would really be up crap creek should something really bad happen.

What brand of bottled water are they drinking? The stuff out of the vending machine works out to be $9.30 / gal, but the local price for a no-name 1 gal PET bottle from Vons is a dollar + tax and CRV.

"Some bacteria are tougher than others, as Clostridium botulinum will survive boiling water for a considerable time, although the toxin is destroyed."

The way I understand it, the Clostridium botulinum bacteria is easily killed by boiling (212F) for a few minutes, and it cannot grow in the presence of oxygen.

But if the live bacteria are transferred to an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment, they will either turn into spores or spores will form [I'm not quite clear on this] and in that process of multiplication the toxins are produced. The spores are an alternate form of reproduction, and are extremely resistant to heat and other conditions.

Spores can survive 5 hours in boiling water, but can be inactivated in 4 minutes in an autoclave which provides pressurized steam (121°C, 15 psi).

So, even if you collect fresh water (contains oxygen) with Clostridium bacteria in it, it is usually harmless on its own, and boiling the water will take care of any problem.

And if I haven't got this straight, PLEASE correct me!

Sue

Some years back, we had a boil water advisory for almost a week and were glad that we had a 3 gallon SS pot. Even though we had bottled water stored, 4 people in a house can go through a large amount of potable water in a hurry as the tap water was contaminated enough that washing your skin or hair with it was not advisable until the water was boiled. The SS pot was always on the stove and topped up when needed then boiled, usually 2-3x times per day.

As for using a camping stove such as a Coleman propane 2 burner, they are slow (but better then nothing) to bring any significant amount of water to boil and cannot fit that large of a pot on them. It helps with the propane costs if you have an adapter to connect the Coleman stove to a 20 lb or 11 lb propane tank.

Yes. Having a large reservoir of potable hot water at hand is incredible helpful. Block your your hot water taps with zip-locks or similar and you'll see what I mean...

Think big. At our cabin (no running water, no electricity) we have a 25 liter pot with a tap. The pot sits on top of an old fashion wood stove. Love it

Some years ago I worked at a back country cabin. No running water unless you sprinted while carrying the buckets. We had an enormous enamelware coffee pot which sat on the wood stove day after day, providing the strongest coffee I have ever consumed...

"No running water unless you sprinted while carrying the buckets."

Brilliant!

Re big pots: I agree, a very good idea. Boiling water a gallon at a time would drive me nuts.

I keep a few stainless steel stock pots around. I think they hold 20 litres (4 gal.) or so. They're not expensive new, and sometimes they come up in second-hand stores or garage sales for a few dollars. I can put two of those on my wood stove to melt snow or boil water as needed.

Another useful accessory would be a vacuum (Thermos) bottle or two. When I spent a month in China in 1993, water for drinking was provided everywhere our group went, either right off the stove or in a vacuum bottle - they were everywhere. Our group of twelve was in China a month, not in the usual tourist places, but well into the backcountry (Guizhou Province), eating locally prepared food always drinking boiled water. We had no cases of intestinal upset or Montezuma's revenge. Just one of the reasons I am such a fan.

If no thermos is available, a cozy can quickly be fabricated from a foam pad.

Having several large pots of water (with lids) can help you keep up with the multiple-person demand. It isn't just the heating-up time, it takes quite a while to cool down so it's usable. Having a series of pots can remove much of the nuisance value of having to do it.

Be careful about washing mucus membranes with contaminated water. Even regular E. coli in the eyes can turn into a problem.

Sue

We had a similar problem here just before Christmas. A main broke and much of the county was without water for a few hours (Guests were just arriving for my son's 30th). The initial problem was major for lots of people (they never do take the hurricane preparedness seriously) but only a minor inconvinence for us - bottled stuff, er - water to drink, fill buckets for the toilets, put out hand sanitizer and wet naps for hand cleaning, use disposables so no dishwashing would be required. Turned out the outage was short lived and the boil order was only a couple of days.

Respectfully,

Jerry

The common/normal e.coli is not all that 'bad' a bug. A few are now known (recent years) to be quite vicious. E. coli has historically been used (& will continue to be) as an INDICATOR bacteria, indicating fecal contamination-which contains various types of VICIOUS and DEADLY micro-organisms. NOT just to the immuno-compromised individual, but to EVERYONE!!
I could list the extensive possibilities of illnesses and diseases (some FATAL) of food/water fecal contamination, but if you care, google it.

gimpy