During a power outage, a water well system can become depressurized, and contaminants can enter the water system. Boulder County Public Health is urging private well owners who experienced a sustained loss in electrical power due to the countywide power outages to take precautions.
- If you experienced a sustained power outage, it may be advisable to disinfect your well. Information on how to disinfect your well can be found here: https://cdphe.colorado.gov/drinking-water-private-wells.
- Make absolutely sure that the electrical power to the well is disconnected prior to disinfection.
- Once power is restored: ensure you flush all lines and let the water run for a few minutes before drinking the water.
How to flush water lines
Follow these steps to flush all pipes and in-building components:
- Cold water: allow each water tap (sinks, showers, outside hose, etc.) to run for about five minutes. Multiple taps can be run at the same time but maintain vigorous flow.
- Hot water tank: run each hot water tap until the water turns cold. If you use a tankless water heater, run the hot water for two minutes.
- Refrigerators and other water dispensers (under-sink filtration systems): run the water for several minutes and then replace the filter if necessary.
- Ice makers: follow the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning ice maker water lines, dispose of any existing ice and dispose of the ice from three refills.
- If the well has yet to have previous baseline water quality sampling, additional sampling should be conducted to evaluate drinking water quality. At a minimum, test for arsenic, hardness, coliform bacteria, copper, fluoride, iron, lead, nitrate/nitrite and uranium.
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