The Boil Water Advisory issued on August 11, 2026, following the main water line repair, is rescinded as of 2:08 p.m. on Wednesday, August 12, 2026. Laboratory analysis of samples collected from the Hot Springs Water System on August 11 came back satisfactory. It is no longer necessary to boil water.
This post is the written notification referenced in the original advisory. The official rescission is reproduced in full below, followed by plain-language guidance.
The official rescission
08-12-2026 2:08 pm
Based on the laboratory analysis of water samples collected from Hot Springs Water System on 08/11/2026, water users are hereby notified that it is no longer necessary to boil water used for human consumption.
We appreciate your cooperation during this period. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Abigail Norton, Mayor
Justin Wood, Certified Water Operator
Hot Springs Water System
828-622-7591
Flush your lines before you go back to normal
The water arriving at your meter is clean. The water already sitting in your pipes, your water heater, and your ice maker has been there since before the advisory lifted, and it is worth clearing out.
Start with the cold tap closest to where the water line enters your home and run it for at least five minutes. Work through the rest of the cold taps, then run the hot taps for several minutes each. This costs you a little water and about fifteen minutes, and it is the difference between clean water at the meter and clean water in the glass.
Your ice maker needs attention. Empty the bin and throw the ice away. Then let the machine make two or three more batches and discard those as well, so the supply line and the mold clear out. This is the step most people skip.
Replace your filters. Refrigerator filters, pitcher filters, and faucet-mounted cartridges were all in service during the advisory. Swap them out rather than hoping they are fine.
A few other things worth doing. Run a water softener through a regeneration cycle if you have one, and run your dishwasher and washing machine empty once before their next real load.
If you run a restaurant, an inn, or any business with beverage machines, coffee makers, or misters plumbed into the water line, flush those according to the manufacturer’s instructions before putting them back in service, and discard any ice made during the advisory. The CDC’s guidance for commercial settings during a boil water advisory covers what to do on both ends of an advisory.
If the water still looks or smells off
Some discoloration, cloudiness, or a stronger chlorine smell is normal in the days after a main line repair. Cloudy water that clears from the bottom of the glass upward is air working out of the line, and it is harmless. Run your cold tap until it clears.
If discolored water keeps coming back after repeated flushing, or the water has an unusual taste or odor that does not fade, contact the Hot Springs Water System at 828-622-7591. We would rather check ten samples that turn out fine than miss one that is not.
About twenty-eight hours, start to finish
The repair began at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 11. The advisory was issued that same day, samples were collected on Wednesday, August 12, and the results came back clear that afternoon.
Sampling schedules and laboratory turnaround are not things the town controls. North Carolina requires collection and analysis by a certified laboratory before a boil water advisory can be lifted, and those requirements are administered through the NC Department of Environmental Quality’s drinking water program. Getting through a main line repair, an advisory, and a clean result in a little over a day is a good turnaround, and it is worth naming the crews and the operator who made that happen.
We know that boiling water, even for a day, is a real inconvenience, particularly for households with small children and for the businesses that had to change how they operate mid-week. Thank you for taking it seriously. The precaution worked the way it is supposed to: the system lost pressure, it was tested, the results were clean, and we can tell you the water is safe rather than assume it.
One thing to take from this
Water outages here are not rare, and the next one will not always come with a scheduled start time. FEMA’s Ready.gov water page recommends keeping at least one gallon of water per person per day on hand for several days. If this week sent you to the store for bottled water, a case in a closet turns the next advisory into something you read about instead of something you plan around. The CDC’s page on making water safe in an emergency is worth a bookmark for the same reason.
Thank you for your patience.