Curious: What If I Drank The Water?

People have been calling and emailing WBZ, concerned because they drank tap water before finding out about a massive boil water order in effect for 2 million people in Massachusetts.

List: Boil Water Order Communities

Em from Brookline Declared her Curiosity:

"What preventative health steps should I take? I have antibiotics in the house. Should I take them?"

The answer is: no.

Dr. Dennis Hooper, Chief of Infection Control at Mass General Hospital said the chances are pretty good that the water you drank will not cause you any health issues.

"The risk is very low that they are actually going to have any illness associated with that," Dr. Hooper said. "In the rare circumstance that it might occur, the type of illness they would be most likely to have would be a diarrheal illness and if they have diarrhea or fever they should contact their primary care physician."

Dr. Hooper said, for now, you should treat your tap water like you would in a foreign country, where its quality is not trustworthy.

There is nothing to believe the water flowing through MWRA pipes is contaminated. It just has not gone through the rigorous testing necessary to ensure it's perfectly safe to drink.

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