Prepare for an interruption to your water supply

A dry tap affects more than your next drink. Walk through a normal day: making food, washing hands, caring for someone, watering pets and using the toilet. That gives you a clearer starting point than buying an arbitrary number of bottles.

Needs differ. Think about the people and animals with you, what they can drink or eat, and whether anyone depends on a water-using medical device. For medical equipment, agree interruption arrangements with the care team and equipment provider.

1. Keep some bottled drinking water if you can, building the supply within your space and budget. Follow its storage instructions and check dates as part of your normal shopping routine. Government Prepare favours sealed bottled water over water kept in reused containers for long periods.
2. Find your water company's incident and contact information now. Keep a way to reach it without relying only on a bookmark on one device.
3. Ask about extra support if collecting alternative water would be difficult because of your circumstances. Tell the company what help you need rather than assuming it already knows.
4. If the supply stops, check the company's live information and ask whether neighbours are affected. Water UK notes that a problem affecting only parts of your home may be an internal plumbing issue; don't assume every dry tap is a network outage.

An interruption and a water-quality warning need different responses. A boil-water notice gives instructions for a particular contamination risk. Other incidents can lead to instructions not to drink or use the water at all. Boiling is not a universal answer.

Use the notice issued for your address, including what it says about food preparation, brushing teeth and other uses. Keep following it until the issuing authority changes the advice. The Drinking Water Inspectorate explains these distinctions for England and Wales; elsewhere, follow your supplier or relevant local authority's instructions.

If you use a private supply, know who is responsible for it and where a warning would come from. Don't assume a nearby mains-supply update describes your own water.

Use the boxes while you read, or tick them on a printed copy. This site doesn't save your ticks.

• You know which company or person to contact about your supply.
• Stored drinking water is suitable, accessible and kept as directed on its packaging.
• Someone can help collect alternative water if you cannot manage it yourself.
• You know to check the specific notice before deciding how to use affected water.

Food that needs lots of preparation is less useful when water is limited. Use the food guide to think through familiar meals that need little preparation, alongside your drinking-water arrangements. You don't need a separate set of unfamiliar emergency foods.