WEST POINT — A boil water notice is in effect for the city of West Point following a water main break on Roper Avenue early Thursday morning.

According to Kristen Lester, Assistant to the City Manager, the substantial break was first reported by a city employee Thursday morning at 5:30 a.m. when he noticed water levels were dropping. Shortly afterward a resident reported the same thing.

In a release sent out by the city, the water main break caused water pressure in parts of the system to drop to dangerously low levels. When this occurs, a potential health hazard may exist in these areas of reduced water pressure, potentially originating from backflow of water from unknown quality into the water distribution system.

City Utility Director Sammy Inman said the break resulted from a fracture that occured in the affected line.“It’s normal for fractures to happen,” he said. “Some are just worse than others.”

Low pressure and no water issues continued throughout the morning until service was restored around 1:20 p.m.

“The break has been repaired and pressure is coming back,” Lester said, noting it would take a several hours before full pressure was restored.

In order to protect the public from a potential health hazard, the city of West Point is asking that all citizens that have experienced water outages and/or low water pressure to boil all water prior to use for drinking, cooking or preparing baby food.

The water should be boiled for at least one minute after reaching a rolling boil. Citizens should continue to boil their water until they are notified by the city that the water has been restored to full operation, and that the microbiological quality of the water in the distribution system is safe for human consumption.

The city of West Point will let residents know when the advisory is no longer in effect.

For questions or concerns please call West Point customer service at 706-645-2226.