Tampa cancels boil water notice after distributing nearly 300K water bottles to businesses

The precautionary boil water notice issued Monday afternoon for the city of Tampa has ended.

The notice was caused by a water main break at the David L. Tippin Water Treatment Facility, and led the city to distribute water bottles to individual residents at four distribution sites, which will remain open through Thursday. 

The city also opened the additional site to accommodate companies and organizations in need of bulk quantities. On Wednesday, the city handed out 295,248 bottles of water to businesses and non-profits at its business only site.

While distributing the water bottles, the city also handed out face coverings, and has reported giving out 498,479 face coverings to businesses and non-profit organizations at the business only site. The mass-distribution of face masks comes at a time when Tampa is facing an uptick in COVID-19 cases. 

Numbers of residential distributions of face masks and water bottles have not been released.

As far as the main break at the water treatment facility, the city has confirmed that two rounds of water quality testing have shown satisfactory results with no evidence of contamination. The water in the service area, which covers Tampa and unincorporated areas of Hillsborough County, is now confirmed to be safe to drink.

However, the city advises that those who are using their water for the first time in several days will want to run taps before using it for cooking or drinking. This will help to remove stagnant water from plumbing systems and brings in fresh water from water mains.

The business only site at Al Lopez Park is open Thursday until 7 p.m., or until supplies run out. The residential pick-up sites are listed below: 

— Himes Ave. Sports Complex, 4501 S. Himes Ave.

— MacFarlane Park, 1700 N. MacDill Ave. (near the basketball courts – turn onto Main St. from MacDill Ave.)

— Al Barnes Park, 2902 North 32nd St.

— New Tampa Community Center, 17302 Commerce Park Blvd.