Thomasville officials urge water conservation after multiple cold‑weather main breaks

City Manager Michael Brandt on Tuesday told the Thomasville City Council that recent cold weather caused multiple water‑main breaks and left the system producing roughly 2.5 million gallons per day — only enough to meet daily demand rather than recharge the system.

Brandt said the city activated its Emergency Operations Center and deployed crews across town to locate leaks. "They understood what their job was and they did a great job, canvassing the area, looking for those water leaks," Brandt said, adding that crews identified approximately 15 potential breaks.

The city issued a conservation notice on Sunday after water levels dropped further following additional breaks and a house fire, Brandt said. He asked residents to continue conservation efforts for one more night and said he anticipated lifting the voluntary restrictions the next day if conditions improved.

Brandt said Davidson Water, the designated backup utility, experienced earlier availability issues but became available later in the afternoon to serve the eastern high‑pressure zone, which is expected to relieve pressure on the rest of the system. He warned residents that thawing ground later in the week could cause more breaks.

Mayor Raleigh York Jr. and other council members publicly thanked city employees, firefighters and police for their work addressing the outages. Brandt asked residents to report suspected leaks to (336) 475‑4247.

The council did not take formal action specifically to change water‑system policy during the meeting; the city continued conservation messaging and crews remained assigned to repairs.