Power outage prompts letter to High Point water customers two months later

High Point officials mailed notices last week to water customers to let them know that a January power outage had affected operations at one of the city’s treatment facilities.

The notices to more than 40,000 city customers went out about two months after the incident.

On January 16, the electricity briefly went out at the Ward Water Treatment Plant, but crews quickly got it back on, says High Point Public Works Director Robby Stone.

For a brief period, the chlorine treatment at the plant dipped slightly below the minimum threshold, he says. But by the time the water went out to the public, it had been adequately treated above that level.

The letter led to some calls from concerned residents, Stone says. 

“And we basically just tried to explain to each person exactly what happened and reassure them that the water is safe and we continue to follow guidelines,” he says.

Stone says city officials notified state water quality officials about the outage. The state didn’t require the city to send out a notification to customers, but the federal Environmental Protection Agency mandated it.