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Atlanta residents purchase bottled water, empty shelves at some stores amid boil water advisory

People are taking precautions.

After Atlanta officials issued a boil water advisory for a large area of the city, some grocery stores started selling its cases of bottled water fast.

People rushed to stores Monday to by bottled water for their homes.

The boil water noticed was issued after problems were caused by a "control issue" at the Hemphill Pump Station in northwest Atlanta. Some parts of the city experienced low water pressure.

RELATED: Boil Water Advisory issued across the city of Atlanta due to low water pressure

"Shortly after 10 this morning our staff was working on routine maintenance for flow meters that are tied into the system of the high service pumps for Hemphill," said Kisha Powell during a council meeting. Powell is the commissioner of the Department of Watershed Management for the City of Atlanta.

"We’re still doing our root cause analysis but in our preliminary discussions our process controls folks have noted that while one of the control or flow meters was in maintenance mode there was one that was not and it’s likely that that meter sent an alarm to the high service pumps to shut them off," she said.

RELATED: Boil water advisory | What to do

11Alive noticed that many of the shelves were empty at the Kroger on Monroe Drive at Ansley Mall. People were there grabbing cases off pallets inside of the store.

It was the same sight at the Publix nearby. Water in the coolers near the checkout was also gone.

RELATED: LIST | Atlanta Public Schools affected by boil water advisory

Some Atlanta Public Schools are affected by the advisory. Restaurants and businesses have also taken precautions. 

“The boil water advisory will be in effect until we receive clear samples from the lab so it will likely be a minimum of 24 hours," Powell said. "Our teams started sampling as soon as we had pressure restored to the system. We dispatched our sampling teams."

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