Boil water orders, utility advisories and flood alerts for Missouri and the St. Louis metro. Last updated -.
Under a boil order? Do this.
Standard guidance from the Missouri DNR and public health agencies. When in doubt, boil.
🚱 While the order is active
- Boil for 3 full minutes. Bring tap water to a rolling boil and keep it there for three minutes before drinking, cooking, making ice, mixing formula, brushing teeth, or filling pet bowls. Let it cool first.
- Toss anything made after the order started - ice, drinks, and food prepped with unboiled tap water.
- Skip the coffee maker. Most machines never hold water hot enough for long enough. Brew with boiled or bottled water.
- Dishes: a dishwasher with a sanitize or heated-dry cycle is fine. Hand-washing? Rinse in a bleach solution (about 1 teaspoon of unscented bleach per gallon of water).
- Showering is OK for healthy adults - just avoid swallowing water. Give infants and young children a sponge bath instead.
✅ After the order is lifted
- Flush every cold tap for 5 or more minutes, starting with the lowest faucet in the house.
- Dump the ice three times. Discard ice made during the order, then the next two batches from an automatic ice maker.
- Replace filter cartridges that ran during the order - fridge, pitcher, under-sink, and reverse osmosis prefilters can hold contamination.
- Regenerate your softener and sanitize RO storage tanks if the system ran during the order. Jones services both if you would rather not do it yourself.
- Water heater: if pressure was lost, flush it per the manufacturer before trusting hot-side water for cooking.
Boil order questions, answered
How long do I need to boil water during a boil order?
Missouri DNR guidance is a rolling boil for 3 full minutes, then let it cool. That covers drinking, cooking, ice, baby formula, brushing teeth and pet water.
Does a boil order apply to my whole county?
No. A boil order applies only to the water system named in the order. The county and nearest town are listed as a locational reference. If your home is on a different system - or a private well - the order does not apply to you, though well owners near flooding should test their water.
Can I shower during a boil water order?
Yes, healthy adults can shower or bathe as long as they avoid swallowing water. Sponge-bathe infants and young children, and use boiled or bottled water for anyone with open wounds or a weakened immune system.
Will my water filter protect me during a boil order?
Almost certainly not. Pitcher, fridge and most under-sink filters - including standard reverse osmosis - are not certified for bacteria. A properly maintained UV disinfection system does continuously treat microbial risk. When in doubt, boil anyway.
How current is this page?
The feed refreshes automatically around the clock from the Missouri DNR Boil Order Report, Missouri American Water, the National Weather Service and the St. Louis Water Division. Each alert card links to the original source so you can verify it directly.
Take the water map with you
Water Health Check, the free iOS app by Jones, grades tap water hardness and chemistry for any address on Earth. Live boil order alerts are coming to the app in its next update.
Under an advisory, or just not sure what is in your tap? A free test tells you exactly - no obligation.