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The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote, and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county, and community efforts.

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Hurricane Preparation for Drinking Water Systems

The Florida Department of Health and Florida Department of Environmental Protection would like to provide you with information regarding precautionary boil water notices (PBWNs) and DEP’s emergency event tracking database. The goal of distributing this information is to ensure effective communication and consistency between DEP, DOH, county health departments, impacted water systems, and the water customers.

Emergency Response Plans

Each water supplier should have an emergency response plan and procedures for their public water system and customers. This plan addresses pre-preparation, who to contact, initiating advisories and ending them. Our emergency hurricane notification list and the precautionary boil water notices and hurricane procedures can be added to your response plan and includes all the emergency contacts for Hillsborough County. The national drinking water advisory communication toolbox to assist in pre-planning activities.

The goal is to enhance communication and coordination between the impacted water system, your water customers, regulatory food agencies, county health departments, and Department of Environmental Protection's district office. Effective communication between entities and consistency in the application for these guidelines is critical for public health protection during emergencies.

Reporting to Florida Agencies

The Department of Environmental Protection will activate the counties in the emergency event tracking database and provide notice of activation to those counties prior to a hurricane warning. 

  • Florida WATER Tracker should be updated by all facilities as soon as possible AFTER the event with any precautionary boil water notices (PBWN) issued, status of the system (do you have power), when the PBWN is lifted, and to ask for any assistance, such as generators, handing out PBWN notices, or if your operator needs assistance with sampling.

If you have a power outage or system malfunction that results in zero pressure in portions of, or your whole distribution network, you must:

  • If it is a localized event, directly notify individual residences and establishments within affected area through door-hangers or other appropiate means.

  • Update Florida's Water Tracker to include the date the precautionary boil water notice(s) was issued and specific area affected. Also add any supplies and assistance needed, such as a generator.

If you do not have access, contact WATERTracker@FloridaDEP.gov

After issuing a precautionary boil water notice(s), make corrective actions to the water system, restore pressure, maintain disinfectant residual, perform flushing as needed, and test for coliform bacteria as prescribed by the agency overseeing your system.

Our office encourages you to notify your customers in advance that in the event of a power outage or system malfunction that a precautionary boil water notice(s) may be issued and what to do. 

Our Public Fact Sheet Templateexplains what your customer can expect for several days if a precautionary boil water notice(s) is issued. Feel free to modify this template with any additional information. You may want to explain that if the water is off for an extended time to boil their water as a precaution when water is restored until they are notified otherwise.