If you live in northwest Guilford County in the Sandy Ridge Road area and are a City of High Point water customer, beware: High Point officials announced in a Thursday, May 27 press release that some areas are facing periods of low water pressure and outages in the distribution system due to a water main break.
When water service is restored, the area will be under a boil water advisory.
If you have an expensive pack of Fiji Water or bottles of Voss that you’ve been keeping around for a special occasion, this might be a very good time to pull them out of the storage cabinet.
According to a Wednesday afternoon press release from the City of High Point, the affected area runs from the Sandy Ridge Road and Johnson Street intersection to the Sandy Ridge Road and Sandy Camp Road intersection. The area includes Bame Road, Adkins Road, Boylston Road, Northborough Road, South Bunker Hill Road, Macy Grove Road and all associated side roads in the area.
One problem is that, when there’s low pressure or no pressure in the distribution system, the potential increases for “back siphonage” – which, in turn, can allow bacteria into the water system.
That’s why High Point officials are instructing the affected water customers – once their service is restored – to boil any tap water that’s used for human consumption. That includes drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes and all water used to prepare food in any way.
According to city officials, “vigorous boiling” for a minute or longer should kill any disease-causing organisms in the water.
It could be a while before things get back to normal, so city officials say the new water advisory remains in effect until further written notification is issued.
If you don’t want to boil the water, you can always resort to those bottles of Fiji water – expensive though it may be.
