City reviews processes after water main break May 13th

May 23, 2025 – The water main break that led to a Water Boil Advisory last week prompted Reidsville officials to meet and review the City’s processes to ensure that the best procedures are followed in fixing the issue, informing the public and attempting to prevent such problems in the future.

The Incident

During the early morning hours of May 13, 2025 shortly after 2 a.m., a series of power fluctuations caused one of the Water Treatment Plant’s high service pumps to rapidly de-energize and energize before shutting off completely. The operator on duty immediately notified the WTP Superintendent, and maintenance staff were called in to get the plant back online. Within 15 minutes, the operator noticed the City’s elevated water storage tanks were dropping rapidly, indicating a possible large water main break. The Plant Superintendent alerted other officials about the potential break so that it could be located and repaired. Public Works on-call employees were brought in.

About 3:30 a.m. residents and businesses on the City’s water system started losing water service. While Water Distribution officials knew that a leak must have occurred, finding such a leak during a rain event and in the early morning hours can be problematic. City crews scanned the City attempting to find the problem. Around 4:30 a.m., a Sanitation employee alerted crews that a substantial leak had occurred on Park Lane, which led crews to initially uncover a roughly four-foot section of broken pipe to be repaired. Another break was discovered on the same waterline, which lengthened the time needed for now approximately 14 feet of pipe repairs. The City sent out a CodeRED about 5:15 a.m. informing residents of the outage as well as posting on social media platforms, the City website and alerting local media. City representatives also reached out to our major industries, healthcare facilities and the school system during this time.

Crews were able to repair the water main break by late afternoon on May 13th, and water pressure continued to improve. However, anytime such a large water main break occurs, cities are required to take water samples from throughout the water distribution system for testing, and a Water Boil Advisory is put into effect. These samples must be incubated for 24 hours. If no contamination is detected, the Water Boil Advisory can be lifted, which is what occurred around 7:30 p.m. on May 14th. At that time, the City sent out a CodeRED to participating residents, a media release to local and regional newspapers and television stations and posted on City social media and the City website.

Questions Raised

Questions have arisen in the community, such as why was the Water Treatment Plant not on a generator? When thunderstorms occur in the area or if there are power outages, the  Water Treatment Plant either shuts down completely or goes on generator power. On the morning of May 13, there was only rain with no lightning or prior power issues reported. Once the power fluctuations occurred, the Water Treatment Plant did go on generator power to ensure no more interruptions of service.

Residents have also asked about the water in the City’s elevated storage tanks. At the time of this water main break, the City’s tanks which supply water for emergencies and pressure were on average about 71% full, containing about 1,075,000 gallons of water.  This water main break was so large it drained the elevated storage tanks and the distribution system of more than an estimated 2.8 million gallons in a little over an hour’s time. For reference, the City averages 3.85 million gallons of water per day.

Debrief Initiated

City Manager Summer Moore called key personnel together for a debrief on Monday, May 19, to review what occurred and what improvements could be made. Staff reviewed a variety of issues, from communication methods, both internally and externally, to supply needs and the logistics involved when emergencies occur. Moore designated Fire Chief Josh Farmer, the City’s new Assistant City Manager of Public Safety, to be the main emergency point of contact if such situations happen in the future. Chief Farmer will also be spearheading efforts to update the City’s Emergency Operations Plan.

In any crisis, communication is key. The City of Reidsville currently utilizes several forms of communication with its residents, including the CodeRED notification system, press releases to local and regional media, social media platforms and the City News page of the City of Reidsville website, reidsvillenc.gov. When initially set up, CodeRED relied on a database of landlines. In the following years, people have had to sign up to receive these alerts. In the coming months, the City will be launching public information campaigns encouraging citizens, businesses and industries to sign up for CodeRED.

The Reidsville Water Treatment Plant has been undergoing a major electrical upgrade after several years of design and successfully bidding out the project last year. This will include adding a whole plant generator with an automatic transfer switch, replacing the plant’s main motor control center, and adding Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) to the High Service Pumps. These VFDs are more sensitive to electrical issues causing them to shut down if an issue occurs and will have phase monitoring built in. This would automatically shut down a High Service Pump if power was lost, and the pump could only be restarted by the operator.

Also being installed at the WTP is the ability to digitally record distribution system pressure. This will help staff to better understand system pressures and be able to refer back to the digital recording.

City staff is also working closely with Duke Energy on how more reliable power can be provided not only to the City’s WTP but also to the Wastewater Treatment Plant.