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Forsyth mayor says water tanks now refilled after main break

Parts of Forsyth were under a boil advisory this weekend, but Mayor Eric Wilson says that is now lifted because tests show the water is safe.

FORSYTH, Ga. — "It was just drizzling out of the pipes," says Tina Ivey.  After a long shift at Jonah's Pizza in downtown Forsyth, Ivey looks forward to coming home and winding down. 

RELATED: City of Forsyth asks people to limit water usage after main break

"Shower and bed -- didn't happen," says Ivey. 

On Sunday morning, the water was almost completely out at her house off Langston Avenue near downtown Forsyth, making it difficult to do basic tasks around home. 

"When you're trying to give a 3-year-old a bath and you have no water pressure, it takes forever for the tub to fill up," says Ivey. 

Ivey's neighborhood is one of those that had problems after a water main broke. 

Streets on the west side of town -- Martin Luther King Jr Drive, Sharp Street, Highways 83 and 42 -- had low pressure or no water at all. 

Janice Hall, the city manager, says an air valve broke in the pipeline. That's a small piece inside the water pipe that helps release air pockets. She says it just happens sometimes. "Unfortunately, with the nature of water lines, and it's underground -- you don't know it's broke until you actually see something that's going on in the system," says Hall. 

Crews worked for hours to patch up the pipe gushing out 800 to 1,000 gallons a minute.

Forsyth Mayor Eric Wilson says they lost two full tanks of water. 

Workers replaced the broken piece, and now, those tanks are full again and systems are back to normal. 

As far as why this happened, Hall says it's the nature of the waterlines.

"No thoughts that it's going to break again at that location, but yes, we will definitely have breaks in the future, because that's just unfortunate for the system," says Hall. 

Water is flowing steadily back into homes around Forsyth, but Ivey says she still sees some color mixed in. "It was brown and we can't wash clothes because the mud gets in your clothes," says Ivey. 

RELATED: City of Forsyth asks people to cut back on outdoor water use

The city says for those affected by the break, you may still be experiencing some reddish-brown tint showing up in some of your water sources in your house, and that might take a few days to filter out.

Parts of Forsyth were under a boil advisory this weekend, but Mayor Eric Wilson says that is now lifted because tests show the water is safe.

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