For safety's sake, call your local health department to ask them these questions. I would think that you'd need to replace all the filters, but I'm no expert.

Can you test the temp on your insta hot? I'm pretty sure that boiling water means bring it to boiling point temp an I doubt instahot does that. Again, check with your health dept.

eColi can cause long-term health problems, so it's not necessarily just a temporary illness.

Sorry for this eColi issue. Also...don't let your pets drink the water unless it's boiled.

I would not trust it. the e. Coli may be killed, but it sort of depends on numbers of organisms, and I know that giardia (a different type of nasty, but still a major water contaminant) requires boiling for 5 minutes to eliminate.....who knows what else is in there if there is an e Coli warning. What does that mean? Was there a sewage leak or something?

Follow wonbyherwits advice and call your local health department! It's not worth taking any chances.

We had an issue like this at my cooking school in Aurora, IL four years ago - there was a problem with the entire city's water supply. What a pain! We had stop all cooking for 1 week. We had to replace every single filter (ice machine, dishwasher, expresso...) It may not be enough to just run a lot of water through your ice machine, germs could still linger. I don't know if you have this option, but we drained our ice machine dry for two days and then ran a sanitizing solution through it (I can't remember now whether it was bleach, but obviously it needs to be something that will flush out well and not be toxic).

Also, think back over the last several days and make sure that you didn't use tap water for making anything like Koolaid or OJ from concentrate - If you're not sure, dump it all. Did you wash any fruits or vegetables that are now in the fridge or on your counter? If not sure, get rid of them too! Not to be indelicate, but if you have a dog, make sure it doesn't drink from the toilet (ours used to if we didn't remember to close the lid).

I'm so sorry you're stuck going through this. Be safe and take care.

Regarding your instahot; I've never had one so I don't fully understand how it works. The recommended temperature for cooking ground beef to kill E. Coli is 160 degrees. If water coming out of the instahot is well over 160 degrees, there's a good chance you'd be OK, but I don't know if the temperature out of those things is super consistent or fluctuates. If the water coming out of it is really always boiled first and doesn't come into contact with any cooler contaminated water, you should be fine, but don't take my word for it and don't take any chances - call the health department.

Thanks everyone.

Our water department is not 100% sure yet if the water is contaminated or if the tests were so they issued the boil water order. We'll find out more on Monday.

In the meantime we are using only bottled or boiled water for everything except bathing. We're washing hands with warm soapy water, using an alcohol sanitizing solution and then hand lotion.

It's OK to run the DW's if we have a Sani wash and both our Miele's do.

My plan for the water system is to wait and see if the water supply was actually compromised or if it was just the tests. If it was the tests, phew! If not we will be desanitizing the entire water system in the house. The supplier of our RO system has sent me replacement filters, we'll be draining and sanitizing the chiller, instahot and water lines to the fridge. But I've no idea how to sanitize the pipes to the RO system and to the regular faucets in the bathrooms etc. Any ideas?

No one can tell me how to flush the water out the house to get rid of any potential bacteria already in the house like in the hot water heater. Also what about water sitting in the municipal pipes between the plant and us?

The health department should be able to advise you on these issues. I remember now that after we got the all clear from the city health department, we were instructed to run all taps and faucets for a set amount of time recommended by the health department. Our issue wasn't E. Coli, so protocol could vary, but probably this is what you'll need to do for regular faucets and bathrooms. My best guess for your hot water heater is that it's probably fine, but I would recommend turning it to its maximum heat setting for a day or two just to be on the paranoid safe side.

I don't know how your RO system is plumbed, but if it is anywhere near a drain or if you could attach a hose to it and run water through it for the recommended time before you put in the new filter, it would be advisable. It's very important to get the RO system either flushed or sanitized before installing the new filters, otherwise they could become contaminated.

I've passed my state sanitation exam and have a current food handling certificate, but this does not make me an expert. Make sure you get final answers from a qualified expert.

It's been a while, but I was thinking the last boil order I saw required the water to be boiled for 20 minutes. If that's accurate, it's possible your instahot wouldn't be sufficient.

PHEW!!! TG!!! YES!!!

False positive. Our village issued a boil order lift last night and confirmed that the three of 29 samples taken that were positive were false positive and that the water had been safe to drink all along.

I was starting to get concerned as the samples were taken as part of routine testing on Wednesday but the results were only available on Friday so for TWO DAYS there was the possibility that everyone had been exposed to contaminated water. Thank goodness this was not the case.

Thanks for all the advice. No need to change filters just yet nor go through the entire sanitization procedure.

Needless to say I am quite relieved.

Thanks everyone who responded.

BTW, the standard procedure for boil orders, according to MY Google research is 3 minutes at a rolling boil.

So happy it turned out for the best.