I never had this issue but we do boil water at our cottage. I think if they are advising you to do this, there's an important reason behind it.

We usually have bottled on hand, as well as a water filter, so no need to boil for consumption.

This has rarely happened, but we stick to bottled water for the most part. Also, depending on the type of well it is, a few of my friends have well water, and so long as it wasn't part of the alert, my friends are always willing to share some of their well water with us for things like doing dishes and showering

The bleach is safer than the bacteria.

After having lived through hurricanes and broken water mains, I say it's best to not risk your health. We once had brain-eating bacteria in a local pond which killed just about anyone who swam in it. Lovely way to die, eh?

Present place: I have 6 gallons of bottled water for drinking, if I know the problem might be coming I tend to fill up the tub with water for dishes, flushing the toilet (if water goes out) ext.

Some of the previous places: Were on well water and didn't pay attention to warnings.

As to the CYA question, last time we went under a boil water (where we are on city) we didn't get the notice until 3 days after it went into effect. We had no issues drinking the water those 3 days.

Hey!!! That sounds like how I wash my dishes here at home!!! Been doing it for ten years now.

When it comes to my dishes, I fill the sink with water, add my soap as usual, then I add in my bleach directly into the soap. Then I know my dishes are properly squeaky clean. Then I rinse dishes in a bucket with a milder bleach solution, and then? I have a bucket filled with bottled water to swish everything through then I allow to air dry.

It seems a little excessive I know, but I have found for me, that if I do not do this, then I get bleach blisters on my lips.

What you need to be careful on, is if they tell you that you cannot brush your teeth with this water. For if you cannot brush your teeth with your water, why are you washing clothes in it or bathing in this water?

When it comes to having boiling water, what we do here is; we buy very large- we they are just giant buckets. Foreigners would call them rubbish bins, but rubbish bins are blue. These are red. But a large rubbermaid tote box would work too. We boil large quantities of water, let it cool for a bit, then pour the water into these bins. It takes a fair amount of time, but this way we have easy access to a large amount of drinking water. One bin usually lasts for about a day for a normal household for cooking, drinking, and human needs.

I've never had this happen where I live, but I would do what they say. Sounds scary.

I don't even normally drink water from the faucet because I'm so sensitive to chemicals and bacterias.. I sure wouldn't if there was an emergency. There's bottled water for that.

No we always have bottled water no matter what.

There has only been one tornado in my area and it was when I was a child and we did it. There was pots all over the house. But since no need.

We have emergencies here a lot that require this. We stock up on bottled water for times like these. If we run out, then yes we boil the water. I would just use paper plates for the time being because I have a bleach intolerance. There's no way I'm eating off a bleached dish. Who knows what my insides would do. I'm also not gonna eat off a dish that could harbor some crazy parasite either. Paper it is then.

Normally we have bottled water on hand in the event of hurricanes where I live, but in the event that we haven't had bottled water, we have boiled it. In the event of power outages...well that's another matter entirely. haha