Milledgeville under boil water advisory as city water levels return to normal

The city of Milledgeville is under a boil water advisory. The advisory was issued Thursday morning as water levels returned to normal.

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The city of Milledgeville is under a boil water advisory. The advisory was issued Thursday morning as water levels returned to normal.

Since Tuesday, residents of Milledgeville have had to conserve water due to low water levels, caused by a pump failure at the city’s Water Treatment Plant.

City Manager Hank Griffeth explained that after the first pump failed, a second pump was activated.

“If you think about the timeline of how this happened, it was kind of delayed,” Griffeth said. “This failure actually occurred Monday morning. People had plenty of water Monday. They had plenty of water for most of Tuesday, but by then, those tank levels had gotten really low, and that’s the reason people started losing water and losing pressure.”

Since then, a third pump has also been activated. Two pumps are currently in operation at the facility, and the city has ordered a temporary portable pump to supplement the failed pump.

Griffeth says water is flowing at higher capacity, but water pressure is still low.

Pressure is expected to return to normal within 24 to 48 hours once the city’s tanks have refilled. After that, the city can begin testing the water to make sure it’s safe to drink.

“We feel like we’ve turned the corner,” Griffeth said. “We are still gonna have the portable pump come in and get installed so we have some redundancy. We apologize for this causing an interruption in your life.”

Money for repairs will come from a Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund, which generates income by charging residents a fee for the utility.

Griffeth says residents’ water bills will not be affected by the outage. The city has suspended late utility fees and service cutoffs due to the issue.

Volunteers distributed more than 2,000 cases of drinking water to residents over the course of two days.

City officials recommend residents boil water for a minimum of two minutes before drinking. They’re also asking residents to continue conserving water.