After a Boil Water Notice is Lifted
What should you do next?
We’ve spent over 25 years helping Central Coast residents address water contamination issues—including bacteria in private wells, small community systems, and city water. With the recent boil water notice affecting five cities, it’s critical to follow the right steps to ensure your household water is safe again.
Below is our recommended post-boil notice flushing and testing protocol, designed to protect your family and restore safe, clean water in your home.
✅ Step-by-Step Post-Boil Water Protocol
1. Bypass Your Water Softener or Whole House Filter
Immediately place your water softener or whole house filtration system into bypass mode.
This prevents any bacteria that may have entered the filter media from contaminating your home and allows chlorine/chloramines in the city water to help disinfect your plumbing.
2. Check for Free Chlorine
The current chlorine levels in affected areas are very low. Use a pool, spa, or aquarium test kit that detects free chlorine. If unavailable, test by smell or with chlorine test strips.
3. Flush Cold Water Lines
Run all cold water taps (indoor and outdoor) until you can detect chlorine. Be thorough—flush kitchen, bathroom sinks, tubs, outdoor spigots, and toilets.
4. Heat Up Your Water Heater
Temporarily increase the water heater temperature to maximum (ideally >150°F) for about 20 minutes to help kill any bacteria. ⚠️ Warn everyone in your household not to use hot water during this time to avoid burns or scalding.
5. Flush Hot Water Lines
After cold water lines have been flushed and your water heater is hot, flush hot water taps, dishwashers, and washing machines thoroughly.
6. Handle Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems & Icemakers
Turn off your icemaker and discard any ice made during or after the boil notice.
Drain the RO tank until it slows to a trickle, then let it refill (about 4 hours). Drain it again.
Once refilled a second time, we recommend a $70 lab test to verify your RO system is bacteria-free before resuming use.
Once your RO system has been determined to be safe you can turn on your icemaker and dump the ice a couple of times.
If your RO system fails the bacteria test we recommend having your system professionally sanitized and serviced. This is not generally a DIY project you want to take on.
Many of our systems use quantum disinfection media that is a special filter that will kill bacteria and will protect our clients in cases like this boil water notice, but it’s 99.99999% effective, not 100%. We have found great results and recommend this additional level of disinfection on well water and on city water.
7. Testing and Recommissioning Your Treatment System
Leave your softener or filter bypassed for 2–3 days while monitoring residual free chlorine levels daily at key points (e.g., kitchen cold tap, master and guest bath cold taps).
Once you detect chlorine consistently:
Contact your manufacturer for guidance on sanitizing and restarting your system.
For our clients, we provide a special disinfecting solution or you may use 2 tbsp of unscented bleach—but always follow manufacturer instructions.
🧪 Bacteria Testing Recommendations
We strongly recommend testing if anyone in your home has a compromised immune system.
If you’re unsure about water safety, test after the filtration system and again after the RO system.
The cost is $70 per test, or we can collect samples for you ($120 service fee for up to 3 samples + lab costs).
Abalone Coast Analytical
141 Suburban RD
Suite C-1
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Phone: 805.595.1080
www.abalonecoastanalytical.com/services
If affordability is a concern, we have a limited number of sponsored tests available—please reach out directly to Eric Foronjy 805 528-8990 x12.
If you would like to sponsor some testing and become a CLEAN WATER AMBASSADOR for those that can’t afford testing please let us know. We are going to prioritize those most vulnerable to water pollution. This include infants and young children, pregnant women, the elderly and the immunocompromised.
🚨 Watch for Long-Term Symptoms
Over the past few years, we’ve seen persistent issues (like rotten egg odors) following boil water notices in SLO County. For the next 6 months, pay close attention to your water’s smell, taste, and any digestive discomfort.
We’re here to help you navigate this safely.
We don’t have the capacity to walk people through the protocol but if you have specific questions we’re here to help support our community.
Call 805 528-8990 or email service@slowater.com with general questions or to request service.
CHEMICAL WATER CONCERNS
Bladder cancer has been associated with exposure to chlorination by-products in drinking water.
Exposure also occurs through
Inhalation (Breathing Vapors in the shower)
Dermal absorption (Through your skin)
Bladder cancer risk was associated with exposure to trihalomethanes (THMs) through ingestion of water, through inhalation as well as dermal absorption. This is a concern during showering, bathing, and swimming in pools.
There is no EPA regulation on bathing water. When chemicals are absorbed into your skin they can quickly enter your blood stream. Dermal absorption rates are highest where your skin is thin, like the back of your neck.
We have been recommending whole house filtration systems to our clients for over 25 years. The bigger the filter the better. The quality of our water is not only getting worse but our laboratory testing is becoming more accurate to detect things in our water that have been present for decades, we just didn’t know about them.
Your regulated drinking water is tested for about 109 contaminants.
Unregulated contaminants are expected to be well over 80,000 and that number is growing every day.
If you are not familiar with forever chemicals, it’s time to pay attention.
Eric Foronjy from Hague Quality Water is a frequent guest of Mortgage Matters. He discusses many of the issues home owners of the central coast need to know about their water. This discussion covers chlorine, disinfection by-products and arsenic.
Schedule your free in home estimate today. Join thousands of central coast residents that love their Hague Quality Water.
Why is chlorine such a problem now?
“The unintended side effect of chlorinating water to meet federal drinking water regulations creates a family of chemicals known as trihalomethanes (THM). The Environmental Protection Agency lumps them under the euphemism “disinfection byproducts” but we call them what they are: toxic trash.
The EPA regulates four members of the trihalomethane family, the best know of which is chlorform. California considers chloroform a known carcinogen. There are hundreds of types of these byproduct chemicals that are simply not regulated in our drinking water.
Scientists suspect that trihalomethanes in drinking water cause thousands of cases of bladder cancer every year. These chemicals have also been linked to colon and rectal cancer, birth defects, low birth weight and miscarriage.”
RENE SHARP, SENIOR RESEARCH SCIENTIST
“Putting Chlorine in the water supplies is like starting a time bomb. Cancer, heart trouble, premature senility; both mental and physical, are conditions attributable to chlorine-treated water supplies. It is making us grow old before our time by producing symptoms of aging such as hardening of the arteries.”
DR HERBERT SCHWARTZ, BIOLOGICAL CHEMIST
Research has shown that chemicals in our water are a real issue. Bill Hague put his engineers to work to solve this problem for us in the 1990’s.
His Hague engineers designed the Watermax. A system engineered to remove the chlorine, filter chemicals (disinfection by-products and other VOC’s) and eliminate water hardness issues in a singe system.
Fast forward 25 years… we have even more chemicals in our water and the Watermax is still the only true whole house filtration system.
Client Testimonials
Our Beliefs
We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy the water in their home free of chemicals like chlorine and the harmful by-products of the chlorination process.
Many people have never taken the time to educate themselves on the importance of bathing in clean water.
We live in a world where our children are being born full of chemicals that weren’t even invented when our grandparents were born.
Clean water is vital to our health. Our mission is to educate as many people as possible about the harmful effects of the chemicals in our water.
Featured business clients
