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NO NEED TO BOIL WATER IN CAIRO

Many times, information spread on social media is untrue, and that is the case with erroneous postings that a boil water advisory has been issued for the City of Cairo.
Cairo City Manager Chris Addleton said a large volume of posts began to appear Tuesday stating that issues with the city’s supply of drinking water had resulted in a boil water advisory.
“This is completely untrue. We are having an issue with discolored water in random sections of the city, but there is no bacteria related issue that would required you to have to boil your water,” Addleton said Tuesday night.
Since last week, the city public works department has received complaints of discolored, or rusty looking, water. A similar situation occurred last winter and the city was not able to detect the exact cause.
“It only makes sense that it is coming from some of our cast iron pipes. Since the issue is not systemwide that rules out any issues at the water plant or wells,” the city manager said.
Addleton, city public works officials and consulting engineer Stacy Watkins have not been able to determine what is causing the leaching of iron to appear in the city’s drinking water periodically.
“It is iron in the water and we would advise residents to run water until it is clear if they experience discolored water. Ice that is discolored should also be dumped,” Addleton said.
Beginning today, Oct. 24, city public works personnel will begin a citywide flushing of water mains by opening multiple hydrants in the center of the city and working out to the outer limits of the system, a process that could take until Saturday.
“We haven’t experienced any water system pressure loss that would result in a boil water advisory and we take daily samples and all indications are the water is perfectly safe to drink,” the city manager said.
Officials with Georgia Rural Water Association will be in Cairo on Thursday to assist the city and evaluate the iron levels.

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