Fayetteville PWC: Water is safe to drink

The PWC urged customers to boil water before drinking on Thursday, because testing for contamination after a major water-main break came back inconclusive. The boil water advisory remained in effect until Sunday evening, when confirmatory test results showed that water was safe to use for any purpose, the utility said. 

The water main break knocked out service to about 50,000 customers.

The boil water advisory covered PWC customers west of the Cape Fear River. That includes Spring Lake and customers of private utilities N.C. Aqua and Carolina Water Service, both of which have water lines connected with PWC lines.

The advisory also included the Smith Lake area of Fort Bragg, officials said, but most of the post receives its water from Harnett County and weren't affected. Customers within a half-mile radius of downtown Fayetteville and those east of the Cape Fear River, including Stedman, Eastover and Cedar, also weren't part of the advisory.

It isn't known what caused the 48-inch line to rupture at the Hoffer Drive plant, one of PWC's main water sources, though engineers have ruled out weather as a cause.