After learning on Wednesday morning (Dec. 28) that Butts County’s water system is once again fully operational, Monroe County water officials are in the process of restoring water service to the county’s North Water System through Butts County.
The Butts County Water & Sewer Authority stated in a Wednesday morning release that its water system is completely full after multiple water service line breaks in Butts County, which provides water for Monroe County’s North Water System, resulted in a major water loss. Butts County’s water shortage, which began on Christmas Day, caused Monroe County Commissioners to make an emergency decision on Monday to close off temporarily the North Water System’s service with Butts County and instead connect to the City of Forsyth’s water system using two fire engine hoses from Monroe County Emergency Services (MCES).
Monroe County’s water management firm, H2O Innovations, was notified Tuesday that Butts County had begun making system repairs and was beginning to refill its system. As of Wednesday morning, Butts County Water & Sewer Authority announced that its water system is completely full enabling Monroe County to re-open the valve that connects its North Monroe County system to Butts County’s system and let Butts County’s water flow in.
Because the Blount water tank is currently more than half full and the High Falls water tank, which was virtually empty on Monday, has been restored to more than 20 percent of capacity, North Monroe County water system customers are not expected to see any interruptions in service as a result of converting the system back from City of Forsyth water to Butts County water. However, out of an abundance of caution, North Monroe County system customers are expected to remain under a Boil Water Advisory for several more days until the system is flushed and additional water testing is completed. Customers are advised to use only boiled tap water or bottled water for drinking, cooking, or preparing food. We will let you know when the Boil Water Advisory has been lifted. As a reminder, the Boil Water Advisory does not apply to customers who already receive water from the City of Forsyth or customers on Monroe County’s South Water System.
In addition, we are continuing to urge Monroe County’s north water system customers to limit their water usage over the next several days until our north water system tanks have been fully refilled.
Monroe County Commissioners would like to thank the City of Forsyth, H2O Innovations staffers, MCES, our state legislative delegation, and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) for ensuring that our North Water System customers maintained water service and fire protection for the entire 48-hour period that Monroe County was disconnected from the Butts County water system.
