An emergency boil order was issued for the entire city of Quincy on Thursday night after a power outage at a pump station broke Quincy’s water system. The order required everybody on campus, to boil their water before drinking or cooking with it.

For many QU students, especially international ones, this was a new experience. German freshman Mathilda Rumpf said she had never heard about a boil order before.

“Well, first of all, I didn’t know what the boil order was. I had to Google it and had to look at the Quincy website to figure out what it was. And, yeah, just to look out to not, like, brushing your teeth with the tap water and stuff like that, and that you can’t drink from the normal fountains,” Rumpf said.

Quincy University’s cafeteria staff turned off the drinking fountains and handed out bottled water to students. They also provided paper plates and plastic silverware to help maintain hygiene during the boil order.

Students living off campus also faced extra challenges. Junior Claudia Andreu said the situation made daily tasks more complicated.

“It is hard for me because I live off campus. I have to go out to get everything in order to eat, drink, and even do chores like laundry,” Andreu said.

Sophomore Daniella Segall, who is from South Africa, said she was surprised by how widespread the order was.

“We don’t really have anything like this in South Africa. It’s crazy how one area can affect the whole city,” Segall said.

City crews worked around the clock to test water samples and restore safe water to residents. On Saturday, November 8, the City of Quincy announced that the boil order had been lifted, allowing residents to safely drink and cook with tap water again.

Although the situation caused some temporary challenges, it also reminded students of the importance of community and safety precautions with water.

“I didn’t really have like a reaction because we did experience this last year around the same time actually and funny enough we weren’t even in Illinois, we were in Iowa away for a soccer trip so we kind of missed the whole boil order. But I guess I was kind of Just like surprised and shocked,” Segall said.

As campus life returns to normal, students are grateful to city workers and university staff for keeping everyone informed and safe.