Richmond County Water Department was planning to reconnect to the Anson County Water Department Tuesday night, said B. K. Jones, Richmond County director of community services.

He said they wanted to connect to meet a quota of 24 million gallons prior to the end of the month from Anson County. Richmond County has a contract to purchase a certain amount of water from the Anson County facility each year.

Richmond County has not pulled any water from Anson County since May 29 when it was informed of a contamination problem, Jones said.

The problem had been isolated to the Burnsville Community from N.C. 218 in Anson County north to the border with Stanly County.

The water in the area was cleared for use Friday. Residents had been asked to use boiled or bottled water.

Anson County Manager Vance Gulledge’s office said the water was safe to drink.

While the area of contamination was identified, he wasn’t sure of the cause. He said it could have been a contaminated sample or contamination from someone stealing water from a water hydrant.