Drinking water incident management that reaches priority households first and lifts the boil water notice the hour it is safe
Boil-water notices lifted the hour the clear criteria are met, every step on one clock.
See one case, screen by screen ↓When a trunk main bursts, pressure drops or a sample comes back positive, the duty manager has to decide fast whether thousands of homes must boil their water. Then the incident runs for days: the water quality team plans sampling in a spreadsheet and phones the samplers, lab results arrive as PDFs, communications writes each notice from a Word template and pushes it through a mass-notification tool, customer care pulls the priority register by postcode, and someone writes the regulator update by hand every morning.
What goes wrong is rarely the chemistry. Notices go out late or say different things in different channels. A care home or a home dialysis patient is missed. A positive result sits unread in a PDF. And the lift waits for someone to collate the last results against the clear criteria — often hours after the final clean sample came back — while every property in the zone keeps boiling water. Lift too early and the notice has to be reissued, which costs trust; reconstructing the timeline for the regulator afterwards takes weeks.
Estimated split for one precautionary boil water notice, in hours of the incident team's time, by hand and with the solution.
Seven agents assess, sample, notify and track the clear criteria; the incident commander and water quality manager decide.
At 03:12 on Friday 9 October 2026, the 600 mm trunk main TM-14 bursts at Corran Road. Pressure in the Kestrel Rise zone of Lumina Water falls below 1.0 bar, and 6,412 properties — about 14,870 people — are about to be told to boil their water. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
The burst alarm on TM-14 comes in at 03:12, with flow at the Hollins Edge outlet up 340%. By 03:19, pressure in KR-2 is below 1.0 bar at 6 of 11 loggers; the lowest is 0.3 bar at Larkfield. The trigger assessor scores it against Lumina's triggers and finds TR-3 met: below 1.0 bar for 51 minutes, with low points in the zone. Smaller alarms elsewhere stay on a watch list, not an incident.
“Trigger TR-3 met (below 1.0 bar for 51 minutes, low points in zone); precautionary notice advised” — a person decides.
At 04:52 Helen declares Category 2 incident WQ-26-031 and decides a precautionary boil water notice. The notice writer has notice #1 drafted from template BW-1 by 05:02, in six channels and four languages. Helen phones inspector Daniel Price at the Water Quality Regulator at 05:31, 39 minutes after the decision, and notice #1 goes at 05:40: 5,204 texts, 1,108 voice calls, 3,980 emails, the website, social and Halden FM, and leaflets to all 6,412 doors by 11:00.
Report clock: phone within 1 hour · written report within 24 hours · daily update by 12:00 · closure within 20 working days.
The vulnerable customer coordinator matches the zone to the priority register: 212 households, 9 of them water-dependent, and 8 sensitive sites. Elmwood House care home is called at 06:05, Mr D. Kowalczyk on home dialysis at 06:20 in Polish, the schools by 07:14. Home dialysis patients get 48 litres of bottled water a day, the care homes two pallets. The last priority household is reached at 07:35 — 1 h 55 m after the notice, inside the 2-hour target.
Needs codes only — “Home dialysis · MD-02” — never medical detail.
The sampling planner built plan SP-KR2-01 at 06:10: nine points, daily rounds, samplers and bottles booked. Round 1 at SP-04 Larkfield, the zone's low point, finds total coliforms 2 /100 ml, E. coli absent, free chlorine 0.18 mg/l. The results reader proposes a flush and three repeats; Samir agrees, Gary Fenton flushes hydrant H-2207, and the repeats upstream, at the point and downstream are all clean.
Results reader: authorised results only — it proposes the follow-up; the water quality manager decides.
The board shows 4d 04:40 under notice. On the clear criteria grid, eight of nine points have three clean sets in a row; SP-04 has two, and its round 4 sample S-26-41187 is incubating at the Ashcombe laboratory, due 10:30. Turbidity, pressure and the repair are already green. Regulator update #4 is drafted and due at 12:00.
“Waiting for SP-04 Larkfield, round 4. Its third clean sample in a row is due from the Ashcombe laboratory at 10:30. Chlorine there must also reach 0.5 mg/l.”
S-26-41187 is authorised by Ruth Okafor at 10:29: total coliforms and E. coli absent in 100 ml, chlorine 0.61 mg/l, turbidity 0.22 NTU. The tracker recounts: SP-04 now has rounds 2, 3 and 4 clean, so every line of rule LC-2 is met. It drafts the lift notice for 6,412 properties, the regulator letter and 212 lift calls, then stops and waits for two signatures.
“All clear criteria met at 10:31. Lift notice drafted for 6,412 properties. Nothing goes out until you and Samir sign.”
The lift notice is filled from template BW-L with the facts of this incident: safe to drink from 10:52, 31 samples at 9 points, Larkfield's third clear result. The health advice stays exactly as approved — run the cold kitchen tap for 2 minutes, empty ice trays and jugs, flush drinks machines before reopening. It is ready in English, Polish, Romanian and Portuguese, for six channels.
Health advice wording is locked to the approved template; the notice writer fills in facts only.
Dr Anya Kowal of the Halden Public Health Office agrees by phone at 10:41, recorded by Samir. Helen signs at 10:43; Samir signs on his phone at 10:44. Until all three are on the notice, the lift button stays disabled.
Nobody lifts alone: commander and water quality manager sign, public health is consulted.
Helen lifts the notice. Texts, voice calls, emails, the website, social and leaflets go to 6,412 properties at the same minute, and the 212 priority households are called with the lift script. The regulator reporter drafts the lift notification for Helen to submit. The whole incident ran 4 days 5 hours 12 minutes.
“Notice lifted at 10:52 · 21 minutes after the last clean result”
The closure report is drafted from the append-only incident log: summary, timeline, 31 samples with no E. coli, customers and notices, cause and actions. The main, cast iron laid in 1962, cracked around a joint, most likely from ground movement after 41 mm of rain; Larkfield's positive points to an air valve chamber at H-2207 that floods in heavy rain. It is due to the regulator by Tue 10 Nov, with Samir as reviewer.
Proposed actions: raise and seal the chamber at H-2207 · add SP-04 Larkfield to routine sampling · survey TM-14 · a second pressure logger at Larkfield.
The same boil water notice, seen by the five people who run it — what their incident looked like before, and what it looks like now.
Seven agents assess, sample, notify and track the clear criteria; the incident commander and water quality manager decide.
Reads pressure and flow telemetry, burst alarms, lab alerts and customer contacts, scores each against triggers TR-1 to TR-6 and proposes the notice decision with its evidence and the properties in the zone. Below a trigger, it opens a watch item.
Builds the sampling plan from the zone inlet, the repair, low points, dead ends, schools and care homes; plans daily rounds after flushing, books samplers and lab slots and tracks every bottle from tap to lab.
Reads each result from the laboratory system once it is authorised, compares coliforms, E. coli, chlorine and turbidity with the clear criteria, and for a positive proposes flushing and repeats upstream, at the point and downstream.
After every result, recounts the clean run at each point and checks chlorine, turbidity, pressure and the repair. When every line is met, it drafts the lift notice, the regulator lift notification and the priority call list, and asks for signatures.
Fills the approved templates — boil water, lift, do not drink — with the zone, times, water stations and phone line, in English, Polish, Romanian and Portuguese, and checks every number against the incident.
Lists every priority household, care home, school, surgery and food business in the zone, puts water-dependent homes first by phone in their language, plans daily bottled water and tracks first contact against the 2-hour target.
Drafts the written, daily, lift and closure reports from the incident log, samples, notices and contacts, puts each deadline on the incident clock, and cites every fact.
Commander decides and lifts, water quality manager agrees, public health consulted. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about the incident, a sample, a notice or a customer. Every answer cites its source; notices, the lift and regulator reports are signed by people.
What is still stopping the lift?
One sample point. SP-04 Larkfield had total coliforms in round 1 on Friday, so rule LC-2 needs rounds 2, 3 and 4 clean there. Rounds 2 and 3 are clean; round 4 (S-26-41187) is due from Ashcombe at 10:30. Chlorine at SP-04 was 0.48 mg/l in round 3 and must reach 0.5. Everything else is met: the other 8 points, turbidity, pressure and the repair.
Why did Larkfield fail on Friday?
Round 1 at SP-04 found total coliforms 2 per 100 ml, E. coli absent, chlorine 0.18 mg/l. Larkfield is the zone's low point, where pressure fell to 0.3 bar at 04:20. Gary flushed hydrant H-2207 on Saturday and three repeats upstream, at the point and downstream were all clean.
Has every priority customer been reached?
Yes. All 212 priority households in the zone were reached by Fri 07:35, 1 hour 55 minutes after notice #1. The 9 water-dependent homes, including 4 on home dialysis, get bottled water every day, and both care homes get 2 pallets a day. 61 food businesses were told by email and phone.
Draft today's regulator update
Update #4 is drafted and due at 12:00. It states the notice, the 31 samples, the SP-04 history and the priority customers, each line cited to the log, and proposes the lift for this morning if round 4 is clean. You submit it; I never do.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Triggers, clear criteria, clocks, approvers, channels and templates are settings. Changes are saved as a draft and the water quality director approves them before they apply to the next incident.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| TR-3 · Pressure below | 1.0 bar for 30 min | Pressure and minutes set by the utility; TR-1 (E. coli present) is always on, alongside coliforms, turbidity, chlorine and taste or odour triggers |
| Clean sets in a row at every point | 3 sets | Number of consecutive clean sets the tracker counts before it drafts a lift |
| Hours between sets, at least | 18 h | Minimum hours between sample sets at the same point |
| Free chlorine at every point | 0.5 mg/l | Minimum free chlorine, with turbidity under 1 NTU and pressure held at 2.0 bar for 24 h |
| Main repaired, flushed and disinfected | On, locked | Always part of the clear criteria |
| Regulator clocks | Phone 1 h · written 24 h · daily 12:00 | Hours and time of day on the incident clock; closure report in 20 working days |
| Every priority household reached | 2 h | Hours from the notice; the first customer notice has its own 2-hour target, and priority households by phone first is locked on |
| Channels and languages | All on | Text, voice call, email · website, app, social, local radio · leaflet to every door · English, Polish, Romanian, Portuguese |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample incident data · “estimated” = our estimate (the hours split) · “typical” = published figures: US EPA Public Notification Rule, 40 CFR 141 Subpart Q (Tier 1 notice within 24 hours); Reynolds et al., via the University of Michigan Graham Sustainability Institute (20,978 US drinking water advisories in 2012–2014, about 53 % precautionary). On lifting, Michigan EGLE guidance asks for two consecutive clean sets 24 hours apart, and Indiana IDEM recommends a second set 24 hours later; the sample utility's rule asks for three. Lumina Utilities, Lumina Water, the Kestrel Rise zone, the regulator, the public health office and the people, places and records named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that runs a boil-water, do-not-drink or contamination incident from the first alarm to the closure report: the decision, the notices, sampling, priority customers and regulator reports on one clock. Drinking Water Incident Management adds seven agents that score alarms, plan sampling, read lab results, track the clear criteria and draft notices and reports. The incident commander and the water quality manager decide and sign.
The clear criteria tracker recounts the clean run at every sample point after each authorised result, and checks free chlorine, turbidity, pressure and the repair against your rule. In the sample incident that rule asks for three clean sets in a row at every point, at least 18 hours apart. When every line is met it drafts the lift notice — it never lifts one; two people sign and public health is consulted.
Every deadline — the regulator phone call, the written report, the daily update, the lift notification and the closure report — sits on the incident clock, and the first notice is drafted from your approved template in every channel and language — 10 minutes after the decision in the sample incident. In the US, a Tier 1 notice such as a boil water emergency must reach the public within 24 hours. The solution keeps the clock in view; your team still sends and submits.
The vulnerable customer coordinator matches the zone to your priority register and sensitive sites, puts water-dependent homes first by phone in their language, and tracks first contact against a 2-hour target. In the sample incident all 212 priority households were reached in 1 h 55 m. It shares needs codes only, never medical detail.
Yes. The results reader reads only results the laboratory has authorised, and for a positive proposes flushing and repeat samples upstream, at the point and downstream. The water quality manager decides, and the sampling planner never moves or drops a point without them.
Yes. The agents draft, count, match and flag; they never declare an incident, send a notice, lift a notice or submit to the regulator. Every notice and the lift need the incident commander's and the water quality manager's signatures, health advice wording is locked to the approved template, and every step is on an append-only incident log.
Yes. Triggers, the clear criteria rule, the regulator and customer clocks, approvers, channels, languages and templates are all settings. Changes are saved as a draft and the water quality director approves them before they apply to the next incident.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your incident plan, triggers and clear criteria, notice templates and a past incident — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on one of your own past boil water notices first.
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1-min demoWe'll run Drinking Water Incident Management on one of your own past boil water notices.