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Living in Florida, we are no strangers to the ever common “boil water notice”. Sometimes the causes are obvious: hurricanes, flooding, water main breaks. But sometimes, a boil water notice seem to come out of the blue. The astute observer, however, may notice that a drop in water pressure tends to foreshadow some of these mystery boil water notices. Why is that so?
How is Water Pressure Lost?
Water treatment plants pump water out to the main water lines. These pumps usually keep the pressure up. However, if the treatment plant is far away, or there are many different directions that the water is going , some additional help may be required. Sometimes there are substations that have additional pumps, and sometimes there are water towers where the water is pumped up into the tower, and gravity increases the pressure as it comes down.
Water pressure loss can be caused by many factors. A water pump at the treatment plant, or sub station may have broken, or lost power. One of the water lines or mains may have had a large failure or break. In some cases, high usage from industrial use and many fire hydrants being open at the same time can even cause the water pressure to drop. No matter how the water pressure is created or lost, it is important that it is maintained.
Why Does Low Pressure Trigger A Boil Water Notice?
The pipes that bring the water around the city and eventually to your faucets are old and have been underground for decades. Many of these pipes have small cracks in them that leak water. As long as the pressure in the pipes remains sufficiently high, any water leakage in these cracks will be the water inside the pipes being forced out due to the pressure. However, if the water pressure in the pipes dips too low, then ground water from outside the pipe can seep into it for these same cracks. This ground water has not been filtered or treated and can be contaminated with all sorts of things from bacteria and spores to gasoline and pesticides.
What Does A Boil Water Notice Mean?
First of all, a boil water notice doesn’t mean that your water is definitely bad. In cases where low water pressure triggered the boil water notice, it just means that there is a chance that the water pipes leading to your home have suffered ground water intrusion.
In most cases, the cause of the drop in water pressure is fixed very quickly, but the boil water notice remains. This is because the water system needs to be flushed before the water is considered good again. This usually takes about 48 hours.
Don’t Ever Worry About A Boil Water Notice Again
Fortunately, you don’t need to ever worry about a boil water notice again. Crystal Clear Water has full house filtration systems that will make sure the every drop of water coming from those old city lines has been filtered before it gets inside your home and in your taps.
Call us today for a consultation on how we can set your home up to have safe, great tasting water for less money then you think.
