I lived under a boil water order--here's what happened

Last Thursday, the sidewalk by a step-cracked building lifted up off the ground when the water main under it broke.

 I turned on my faucet and got nothing. All the water was running down the streets a few miles away, waist deep in some places. 

Water main break, March 27, 2025. Source: Indianapolis Fire Department. 

A man who supervises the building at the corner of the recent water main break in East Indianapolis shared a video with me, capturing the scale of the situation. Coverage on @93wibc pic.twitter.com/mUEkc2P78C

— Ryan Hedrick (@suretocover) March 27, 2025

Later that day, after fixing the main, the water company issued a boil-water advisory for the next two days. If you wanted to drink it, cook with it, or wash your dishes in it, it had to be boiled. 

As usual, I had a sink full of dirty dishes. No problem, I thought--I'll boil water in my canner. But it takes a long time to bring so much water to boil, then it has to cool down enough to put your hands in it. Finally, around 10 PM, I was ready to wash the dishes. I soaped up the first dish...then realized I had nothing to rinse it with. I put some water I'd bought at the store in the canner. It had to do for the whole batch. 

I also got some dry shampoo. I'd never used it before and didn't realize it was mostly butane. Butane? Are you supposed to put butane in your hair? I always get water in my eyes when I wash my hair, and, not wanting to risk another eye infection, cleaned my hair with butane. Twice. 

When it was time to brush my teeth and wash my face, I took a bowl of bottled water to the bathroom. I thought I'd wash my face first. I lathered up my face, then realized that once I rinsed it, I'd have soapy water to brush my teeth with. So I brushed my teeth, rinsed the toothbrush, then rinsed the soap off my face. Who'd have thought that using a wash basin with limited water was like 4D chess?

I thought about washing my hands. I don't trust hand sanitizer to get all the crud off my hands, and I don't trust soap to sanitize my hands. But since the water was clean enough to bathe and wash your clothes in (as the water company said), the tap water couldn't be that bad. I washed my hands as usual, then used hand sanitizer.

Not wanting to wash any more dishes, I went out for lunch the next day and fed my dog some canned fish.

Just as I got everything figured out, the water company ended the boil water advisory. 

I never realized what a convenience it is to have sanitary tap water.