By admin 
FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Half of Forsyth County has been impacted by a significant water main break.
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Officials provided an update on Thursday as Forsyth County is still feeling the impacts of a water main break on Wednesday. They say that half of the county’s population, so around 200,000 people, has been impacted by this water main break, which crews are still working to resolve fully.
Thursday update
On Thursday night, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utilities said water service has been restored to all WS/FCU customers affected by the water main break.
The boil water advisory has been lifted for a portion of the impacted area after laboratory testing confirmed the water is safe for human consumption.
Customers in the remaining impacted area must continue to boil water until additional testing is completed.
Kernersville and Walkertown are still under a boil water advisory.
A new interactive map was released, showing all of the areas where the boil water advisory still applies.
Water samples have been collected throughout the remaining impacted area, and test results will be confirmed on Friday.
The location of the water main presents what officials describe as “unique challenges” because the main is located 40 feet below ground beneath a man-made pond, making access to it difficult.
Crews say they have isolated the main, which is allowing for excavation efforts to expose the break and assess the damage.
The isolation of the main has allowed for water operations to be restored at several critical facilities, according to officials. Water pressure is “steadily recovering” in some areas.
Water conservation continues to be encouraged in Forsyth County to support system recovery.
Operations for the International Black Theatre Festival were disrupted on Wednesday due to the water main break. They resumed normal operations on Thursday.
Novant Health announced that they will be transitioning appointments at several offices to virtual-only due to the break and will provide ongoing updates about impacted facilities here.
Water main break shuts down Kernersville businesses, county facilities
Kernersville businesses are reopening after a water main break forced many to close on Wednesday. However, even with doors back open, business owners and customers say things are still not back to normal.
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Fitz on Main is one of the several businesses that reopened, along with two others that FOX8 checked with on North Main Street. Owners say that they are changing how they prepare and serve food and drinks, and customers from Forsyth County say water service is restored at homes but with low pressure.
Fitz on Main opened on Thursday, but it had to open three hours later than usual. The owner, David Fitzpatrick, says the restaurant stopped serving drinks due to concerns about the safety of the water supply. The menu is modified to remove any items that use water, and staff are using water from the ice made before the water main break happened and boiling that water before use.
Fitzpatrick, along with other Forsyth County residents, said water is back on, but with the boil water advisory still in effect, water use is still limited, and staff is taking extra precautions with drinking water.
“You see the bottled water. We are serving water only because all of our lines for all of our drinks, for our coffee and for our tea, that is water that we don’t know how safe it is, so we disconnected all our drink machine lines,” Fitzpatrick said.
Other business owners along North Main Street say that they are also using hand sanitizer as an extra precaution, while navigating updates from city and county officials.
Background
Just after 3 p.m. on Wednesday, officials from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utilities and emergency services personnel held a press conference to update citizens on the status of the crisis for the affected area, which includes Eastern Forsyth County, downtown Winston-Salem, Kernersville and Walkertown.
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck situation, and we are making every effort to get the water restored as soon as possible,” Winston-Salem Utilities Director Courtney Driver said.
Some areas are supposed to be without water services on Wednesday due to a planned water shutoff, according to Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utilities. The planned area for the shutoff was the 600-700 blocks of Farmwood Drive and all of Oxford Ridge Court in Kernersville.
The planned time for the shutoff was between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
However, FOX8 began receiving several calls from people in the Kernersville area and Forsyth County reporting outages in areas outside of those planned in the release early Wednesday morning.
Callers reported outages in the areas of downtown Kernersville, Union Cross and Walkertown.
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist said in a statement on Thursday that the hospital is taking steps to get back to normal as water service is gradually restored.
Emergency departments are still open and fully operational for patients with acute needs and medical emergencies.
Visitor restrictions remain in place. Appointments and non-emergent procedures may need to be rescheduled. Patients affected by any changes will be contacted directly.
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