State health officials are advising residents to boil drinking water if their public or private wells have been flooded or have lost electricity. If your well has been flooded, you should use bottled water for preparing infant formula for children six months of age and younger and for pregnant women.
Boiling water can concentrate potential nitrate contamination.
Although most adults are not generally affected by nitrate contamination, young infants and pregnant women are and should not be given boiled water. Officials with the Division of Environmental Health said that while the water may be safe, flooding greatly increases the chance of contamination. Loss of pressure, which occurs when a pump does not have electrical power, also increases the chance of contamination. Water used for drinking, cooking, making ice, brushing teeth and washing hands should be kept at a rolling boil for at least three minutes before use. Residents should continue to boil their water until tests on samples taken since the last flooding or loss of electricity show the water is safe.