Boil Water Tips and Suggestions
March 17, 2023
Tips for boiling water:
- Fill a pot with water.
- Heat the water until bubbles come from the bottom of the pot to the top.
- Once the water reaches a rolling boil, let it boil for 2 minutes.
- Turn off the heat source and let the water cool
- Pour the water into a clean container with a cover for storage.
Suggestions for different types of water use:
- Preparing and cooking food
- Wash all fruits and vegetables with boiled water that has cooled or with bottled water.
- Bring water to a rolling boil for 2 minutes before adding food to cook.
- Use boiled water when preparing drinks, such as coffee, tea, and lemonade
- Wash food preparation surfaces with boiled water.
- Feeding babies and using formula
- Use ready-to-use baby formula, if possible.
- Prepare powdered or concentrated baby formula with bottled water. Use boiled water if you do not have bottled water. Disinfect water for baby formula if you cannot boil your water.
- Wash and sterilize bottles and nipples before use.
- If you cannot sterilize bottles, try to use single-serve, ready-to-feed bottles.
- Ice making
- Do not use ice from ice trays, ice dispensers, or ice makers.
- Throw out all ice made with tap water.
- Make new ice with boiled or bottled water.
- Bathing and showering
- Be careful not to swallow any water when bathing or showering.
- Use caution when bathing babies and young children. Consider giving them a sponge bath to reduce the chance of them swallowing water.
- Brushing teeth
- Brush teeth with boiled or bottled water. Do not use untreated tap water.
- Washing dishes
- Household dishwashers generally are safe to use if the water reaches a final rinse temperature of at least 150 degrees or if the dishwasher has a sanitizing cycle.
- To wash dishes by hand:
- Wash and rinse the dishes as you normally would using hot water.
- In a separate basin, add 1 teaspoon of unscented household liquid bleach for each gallon of warm water.
- Soak the rinsed dishes in the water for at least one minute.
- Let the dishes air dry completely.
- Laundry
- It is safe to do laundry as usual.
- Pets
- Pets can get some of the same diseases as people. It is a good idea to give them boiled water that has been cooled too.
- Water filters
- Boil tap water even if it is filtered. Most kitchen and other household water filters typically do not remove bacteria or viruses.