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Boil Water Notice Lifted In Freeport 3 Days After Reported Water Main Break Repair, Officials Say

Sunday, August 13, 2023 9:43PM

FREEPORT, Texas (KTRK) -- A boil water notice issued for the City of Freeport on Friday, Aug. 11, has been lifted, according to officials.

The video featured above shows what you should do during a boil water notice.

The notice was lifted at about 11 a.M. On Sunday by officials who then notified residents that the water was safe to consume.

ORIGINAL REPORT: Freeport residents asked to boil their water on Friday due to main break repair

The precautionary boil notice was due to an ongoing repair of a recent water main break.

City officials said the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality required their water system to notify customers once the problem was fixed.

RELATED: What happens if you drink water, but you didn't boil it?

According to the CDC, when a food service establishment is notified that the boil water advisory has been lifted and the drinking water supply is safe, the following actions need to be taken:

Flush pipes throughout the facility by running each faucet with cold water.

Flush, clean, and sanitize appliances that use tap water (such as beverage dispensers, spray misters, coffee and tea urns, ice machines, glass washers, and dishwashers) according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Run water softeners through a regeneration cycle.

Flush hot water tanks.

Run drinking fountains continuously to flush the system.

Replace and sanitize water filter cartridges according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Take proper steps to flush ice machines by following the manufacturer's instructions,including:

Throw out any remaining ice.

Flush the water line to the machine inlet.

Close the valve on the water line behind the machine.

Disconnect the water line from the machine inlet.

Open the valve and run 5 gallons of water through the valve.

Dispose of the water.

Close the valve.

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Brainerd Boil Water Advisory Continues

A boil water advisory is still in effect in Brainerd, Minn., after the advisory was issued on Thursday.

Brainerd Public Utilities says the city drinking water is contaminated with coliform bacteria, and officials advise residents to boil tap water before drinking, brushing teeth or cooking to avoid getting sick.

Short-term symptoms such as diarrhea, cramps, nausea, and headaches can be caused by drinking contaminated water.

Officials say the city's drinking water could have been contaminated with coliform bacteria due to construction on July 27, although the root cause is still unknown.

The city is chlorinating the water system and will flush the chlorinated water and collect samples to confirm there are no total coliform bacteria remaining in the system.

The issue is expected to be resolved by Monday.

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These Are The Best Ways To Boil Eggs

Eggs are one of the most versatile ingredients, but they can be confounding to cook. A French omelet is often held up as a test of a chef's skills, while a fear of poaching eggs is one of the reasons some home cooks prefer going out for their eggs Benedict instead of attempting the dish at home. And then there are boiled eggs (aka hard-boiled eggs), whose yolks can go from jammy to green-ringed quickly, and whose whites can stubbornly hold onto their peels, bedeviling deviled egg makers everywhere. 

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Not surprisingly, chefs have strong feelings about the best ways to cook — and peel — boiled eggs. We spoke to a few of them to help you find the method that works best for you. To help get you started on your eggs-cellent journey, we collected some tips from Joseph Offner, executive chef at Bar Sprezzatura in San Francisco, and award-winning chef and cookbook author Gavin Kaysen, who has multiple restaurants in Minnesota. Once you dial in your technique, perfect tea sandwiches, stunning Scotch eggs, and next-level ramen won't be far behind.

Start with fresh eggs

Both Offner and Kaysen use fresh eggs for boiling, which runs counter to the conventional wisdom that older eggs are easier to peel. "Vinegar in the water, salt in the water — I've tried all the tricks," says Offner. "From my experience, it's the freshness of the egg that matters the most." Kaysen prefers picking up eggs at a co-op or farmer's market to get the freshest options. 

If you're buying your eggs at the supermarket, choose a carton with the "sell by" date that's the farthest in the future. Or, check the three-digit code right above or below the "sell by" info. This number, known as the Julian number, tells you when the eggs were packed. For example, 001 is January 1 and 365 is December 31, so you'll need to do a little math to figure out the specific packing date.

Manage your water-to-egg ratio

Before you boil, Offner suggests checking the ratio of eggs to water. "If you put too many eggs in there, you'll lower the [water's temperature] and the water will spend a minute or two coming back to a boil," he says. "If you want to do a seven-minute egg and 80% of your water space is taken up by your eggs, it's going to be more like a 10-minute egg." This might sound complicated, but Offner says it's easy enough to eyeball this at home. "If you look at a pot and you fill it with water, you wouldn't really want to exceed a third of that volume being eggs."

Cook your eggs in boiling water

Another boiled egg debate is whether to start your eggs in cold or boiling water. Kaysen falls firmly in the latter camp. "You want to boil the water before adding the eggs to prevent the eggs from overcooking," he says. "This technique also helps prevent the greenish-gray hue from forming around the egg's yolk." When adding your eggs to the pot, use a slotted spoon to gently lower them into the water so the shells don't crack.  

How long to boil eggs

The cooking time depends on whether you want jammy egg yolks or ones that are fully cooked. Kaysen is a fan of an eight-minute egg. "It's a soft boil but a little firm on the outside," he says. For a fully cooked yolk, Offner cooks his eggs for 14 minutes.

Steaming eggs is an option

Offner agrees about bringing the water to a boil before adding eggs, but he offers another option: steaming eggs. This is the technique he uses at his restaurant, and it's easy to do at home. If you have a pot with a steamer insert, bring an inch or two of water to boil in the pot and then add the eggs to the insert once the water comes to a boil. Cover and steam for about six minutes for jammy yolks and 11 to 12 minutes for solid yolks.

Always ice them down

No matter how you cook eggs, you need to chill them quickly when they are done. While your eggs are cooking, grab a large bowl and make an ice bath by filling it with ice and water. Then use a slotted spoon to transfer the eggs to the ice bath as quickly as possible. The reason for the quick chill is two-fold: to stop the cooking and to help the internal membrane from sticking to the shell. 

Pick a peeling method

Now that you've got a cooked, chilled egg, it's time to peel it. This is where some cooks really start to sweat, but Kaysen and Offner have good advice. Kaysen is a fan of gently rolling the egg on the counter to crack the shell and then peeling it under running water, which helps the shell slip off. If Offner runs into peeling problems, he grabs a small spoon. After gently cracking the egg shell on the counter on all sides, he peels a bit from the wide end of the egg (where the air pocket is), dips a small spoon in warm water, and gently wedges it between the shell and the egg. "I wouldn't call it peeling, because then that kind of puts the wrong picture in your head," he says. "You're using the spoon as a wedge to get in between the membrane and the shell." It's easier than it sounds, and helps you end up with eggs that are eggs-actly right. 

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