Sardis residents are no longer advised to boil water that comes through the municipal system.

The State Department of Health Saturday morning certified that samples taken from the system had tested safe, Certified Water Operator Michael Purdy said.

The boil water notice was issued September 30 after multiple leaks caused a loss of pressure within the municipal system’s water pipes. The leaks were apparently triggered by a “hammer lock” while Sardis fire fighters were combating a blaze on Dewberry Street early September 30. The hammer lock was created, Sardis Fire Chief Chuck Moore said, when some object was loosened inside a water pipe as water flowed at a heavy volume through the pipe into the fire plug to which firemen had attached a hose. The loose object suddenly blocked the flow, creating the hammer lock that forced water pressure backwards through the lines, creating breaks that caused the loss of water pressure.

Sardis municipal employees spent several days repairing the damage so that water pressure could be restored.

Sardis Vice Mayor Roy Scallorn, during a meeting of aldermen Friday afternoon, said that the city was required to submit samples from 14 separate locations and that all of the samples had to test safe for two consecutive days before the notice could be lifted. Purdy had then completed Friday’s sampling, Scallorn said and on Saturday morning Purdy learned that those samples had tested safe as had the samples taken on Thursday.