Late on a Wednesday night in September 2016, Warwick Township posted a notice on its Facebook page. A water main had broken in Lititz Borough, and customers in the area of Green Acre Road, Longenecker Road and Orange Street were out of service. A mandatory 24-hour boil water advisory was in effect.
By the next morning the township had updated the notice. The affected area now read as Green Acre Road, Longenecker Road, West Orange Street and the surrounding area, and the advisory was extended to 48 hours. The township added that the northern, eastern and southern parts of its service area were not affected, and that customers would be notified when the advisory was lifted.
The episode was short, but it showed the gaps in how the township reached residents, and the same questions apply to any advisory today.
Why a borough break affected township customers
Warwick Township buys water from Lititz Borough for its Lititz-area system and distributes it to township customers. A break on the borough side can drop pressure in township lines that depend on it. When pressure falls, contaminants can be drawn into pipes, which is why utilities issue boil water advisories after many main breaks even when no contamination has been detected.
The communication problem
In 2016 the township’s main channel for the advisory was a Facebook post. At the time, the township’s page had fewer than 800 followers, a small fraction of its water customers. Residents posted questions about exact streets and how they would learn when the advisory ended, and some went unanswered for hours.
Since then, most Lancaster County municipalities have added more ways to reach people. Warwick Township and Lititz Borough both post alerts on their websites, and Lancaster County’s emergency notification system lets residents sign up for text, email and phone alerts by address. If you have not registered, it is worth doing before the next break.
What to do during an advisory
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s standard guidance is straightforward:
- Bring water to a full rolling boil for at least one minute, then let it cool before use.
- Use boiled or bottled water for drinking, cooking, making ice, brushing teeth, preparing formula and washing produce.
- Discard ice made during the advisory.
- Showering is generally fine for adults, but avoid swallowing water. Sponge-bathe infants with boiled, cooled water.
- Wash dishes in water that has been boiled, or use a dishwasher with a sanitizing cycle.
One caution for older homes
A boil advisory addresses bacteria. It does nothing for lead, and boiling actually concentrates lead in water. In older Lititz-area homes where lead plumbing or connectors may be present, households with infants may prefer bottled water during an advisory. Our guide on testing your water for lead explains how to learn whether that is a concern in your house.
After the advisory lifts
When the utility lifts an advisory, flush your plumbing:
- Run all cold water faucets for about five minutes, starting with the lowest floor.
- Run the refrigerator’s water dispenser for several minutes and throw out the first batches of ice.
- Run water softeners and filters through a cycle or replace cartridges if the manufacturer recommends it.
Keep a few gallons of bottled water in the house as a matter of routine. Advisories rarely come with warning, and the first evening is when stores run short.
Main breaks will keep happening as older pipes age; much of the infrastructure under Lititz streets is decades old. Faster, wider alerts are the part residents can push for. For the larger history of the township’s water systems, see the 2016 state findings on lead sampling.