If the water supply is shut off overnight, what action must a manager take first?

• A. Open service with bottled water
• B. Post signs and proceed
• C. Continue operations and ignore the outage
• D. Close the establishment and notify the regulatory authorities

Answer: (D)

Water is essential for every step of food safety—handwashing, cleaning and sanitizing equipment, and cooking. When the water supply is unavailable, those critical sanitation practices can’t be reliably performed, creating a real hazard to public health. The proper first action is to close the establishment and notify the regulatory authorities. This right away protects guests and staff, and gets official guidance on how to proceed, including any permitted interim measures and when it’s safe to reopen. Other options don’t address the core risk: continuing operations or pretending the outage is harmless.