At 5:40 p.m. university officials announced that the City of Columbia has lifted its boil water advisory.
Campus officials say before any water can be used on or off campus, city guidelines advise that all water-related utilities must first be purged — cleared of harmful substances that cause water discoloration.
Instructions for off-campus residents are as follows:
- "To flush your faucets, turn on the cold water tap at all faucets and run the water until you feel a change in temperature (the water gets noticeably colder). This may take several minutes. Begin with the faucet that is highest up in your home (for example, a faucet on the highest floor of a multilevel home) and continue to run while opening the other faucets one at a time, moving from the highest floor to the lowest floor.
- For hot water faucets, change all faucets to hot water and flush for a minimum of 15 minutes for a typical household 40-gallon hot-water tank, 30 minutes for an 80-gallon hot water tank or larger. Hot water is then safe to use for washing hands and for hand-washing of dishes, pots and pans, etc. Never use water from the "hot" faucet for drinking, cooking or other internal-consumption purposes.
- Automatic ice dispensers should be emptied of ice made during the boil advisory and run through a 24-hour cycle, discarding the ice to assure purging of the ice-maker water supply line. Bins should be thoroughly cleaned before use.
- Water dispensers from refrigerators should be flushed by at least one quart of water and their filters replaced.
- Dishwashers: After flushing hot water pipes and water heater, run dishwasher empty one time."