Danville lifts boil water advisory, gives guidance for water use

DANVILLE, Va. (WDBJ) — The City of Danville has lifted its boil water advisory after laboratory testing confirmed the water system meets all Virginia Department of Health safe drinking water standards.

The city earlier in the week said weather led to the advisory.

“Due to heavy rain and run off into the creeks and streams feeding the Dan River, the water coming into our treatment plant became unusually cloudy, and despite our best efforts, it could not be safely treated to meet quality standards. For several hours, we were unable to supply the distribution system with treated water meeting the Virginia Department of Health standards for drinking water.”

The city says customers can now resume normal water use. As a precaution, the Virginia Department of Health recommends that customers take the following steps to flush their plumbing systems:

• Run outside taps for approximately 10 minutes to bring fresh water from the water main to the property.

• If you have any cartridge filtration systems treating the water coming into the house, replace the filter(s) before consuming.

• If you have a water softener treating the water coming into the house, perform a regeneration/backwash cycle to bring fresh water to the treatment system.

• Run all cold-water faucets in your home for one minute to bring fresh water from the property or treatment systems into the cold-water plumbing inside the house.

• Start at the faucet closest to the connection of the water line into the house and proceed to faucets on lower levels of the house and then upper levels of the house.

• Clean any aerators on faucets.

• Run the hot water in a tub for 10 minutes to replace water in the hot water heater.

While not specifically recommended by the VDH, additional steps to take include:

• Discard any ice made during the advisory and clean ice bins before making new ice.

• Flush refrigerator water lines by running the dispenser for several minutes.

• Run dishwashers empty once before washing dishes.

• Run washing machines through a cycle before starting a load of laundry.

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