Boil water advisories in Washington DC and Arlington County, Virginia have been lifted after more than nine hours, effectively affecting both jurisdictions.
The boil water advisory has been lifted in all of Washington, D.C., and most of Arlington County, Virginia, hours after thousands of residents were urged not to drink tap water without boiling it first.
DC Water said in a press release Thursday morning that it confirmed that the drinking water supplied by the Washington Aqueduct has “never deviated” from Environmental Protection Agency standards and that all tap water can be used as of 7:30 a.m. Thursday.
DC Water issued a boil water advisory late Wednesday night after officials said there was a drop in water supplies from the Washington Aqueduct, along with concerns about increased cloudiness — known as turbidity — in the water.
In addition to all of Washington, DC, the advisory also covered nearly all of Arlington County, including the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery and Reagan National Airport.
“Following advice from the Washington Aqueduct, DC Water has issued the precautionary boil water advisory as a conservative measure to protect public health. We sincerely appreciate our customers’ patience as we take the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of the tap water we provide,” DC Water said in a statement Thursday.
Arlington County, which issued its own water advisory on Thursday, announced that it had also been lifted. Only a small portion of Arlington, the Willston Pressure Zone, which borders Fairfax County near the intersection of McKinley Road and Wilson Boulevard, was unaffected by the advisory.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the Washington Aqueduct, will hold a news conference on the matter Thursday morning.
DC Water said the precautionary advisory to boil water began around 9 p.m. Wednesday
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the aqueduct, said in a statement that it had notified DC Water about problems with increased turbidity in the water supply, which was caused by increased algae blooms in the Potomac River.
DC Water spokesman John Lisle told WTOP the advisory was lifted as a precaution to give firefighters access to water, especially on a major holiday like the Fourth of July, and to ensure enough water could be flushed from the system.
“Turbidity can be an indicator of (poor) water quality, and so it was decided that it was safest to issue the boil advisory,” Lisle said.
While the cloudy water itself has no health effects, it can disrupt disinfection measures and make it easier for microbes to multiply, DC Water said.
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