An advisory issued this weekend to boil water for at least one minute before using it for cooking, drinking or personal hygiene was lifted early Monday for all but one city block, the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management said.
The advisory, which affected parts of downtown, southeast and southwest Atlanta, followed major storms that created electrical power outages. Those outages resulted in a temporary loss of pressure in the drinking water system at two pumping stations.
The Department of Watershed Management flushed its system as a precaution to ensure no contamination existed.
“Samples taken throughout all other affected areas showed no contamination,” department spokeswoman Lillian Govus said.
Affected areas included downtown Atlanta and Avon Avenue to the south, Holtzclaw Street to the east and Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard to the west, according to the Department of Watershed Management.
The advisory is still in effect until 5 p.m. for residents in the 745 block of Memorial Drive. The department advised customers within the boundaries of Memorial Drive, Chastain Street, Pearle Street and Interstate 20 to run faucets for three to five minutes to clear the water lines. Infants, the elderly and those with immune deficiencies were urged to be particularly careful in that area.
Some Atlanta Public Schools, including Centennial Place Academy, provided bottled water to students Monday. Centennial Place was one of 17 schools affected by the advisory, district spokeswoman Jill Strickland Luse said. The district originally planned to provide bottled water to all affected campuses and asked students to bring their own.
After the advisory was lifted early Monday, the district posted this message on its Twitter account: "Since the boiled water advisory has been lifted, there is no need to provide bottled water to the schools that would have been impacted."
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