County says water outage from pipe-cleaning affected one subdivision; urges signing up for HyperReach

A Columbia County water-line cleaning aimed at removing brown water caused an unintended service interruption in one subdivision, County Manager Scott Johnson said.

Johnson described the technique as "ice pigging" and said a valve in the line destroyed the cleaning sponge, which reduced pressure and interrupted service to a neighborhood. He gave the approximate timing: crews responded after the issue arose around 1:30-2:00 p.m., worked into the night and restored water service around 10:00 p.m., a period he described as roughly eight hours.

"We sent crews out immediately to start working on this issue," Johnson said, adding that crews worked through the evening to restore service. He rejected a caller's suggestion that county staff had left at 5 p.m., saying staff and public relations personnel remained actively engaged throughout the response.

Johnson said the county used multiple channels to notify residents, including HyperReach (a targeted alert system), social media updates on Facebook and Nextdoor, and the Ring app. He urged residents who had not enrolled to sign up immediately: "Sign up for HyperReach. That's do it as soon as you finish listening to this episode, so we can notify you about things happening in Columbia County."

What happened next: Johnson said crews repaired the valve and restored pressure; he emphasized the county's aim to minimize disruptions and reiterated the recommendation that residents sign up for targeted alerts to receive fast, neighborhood-specific information.