The 23 communities included Flint, Pontiac, Sterling Heights, Clinton Township, Utica and Troy, the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) said.
GLWA is working to isolate a break in a 120-inch water main that distributes finished drinking water from the Lake Huron Water Treatment Facility to communities in the northern portion of GLWA’s drinking water service area. pic.twitter.com/X2z34yAUhN
— Great Lakes Water Authority (@glwatermi) August 13, 2022
Crews located the location of the leak, which is about a mile west of the authority’s Lake Huron water treatment facility.
In response to the water outage, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer activated the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) Saturday afternoon.
SEOC has so far “received requests for bottled water and is working to fulfill them,” the governor’s office said.
The 120-inch pipe in St. Clair, called the water main, carries treated water from Lake Huron and is the largest in the system, the agency said.
“Once the leak is contained, crews will begin to open emergency connections to other networks in the system to restore some flow to affected communities,” the agency said.
“A loss of pressure can lead to bacterial contamination in the water system … Boiling water before use will kill bacteria and other organisms that may be in the water,” GLWA said.
Residents in the affected counties are urged not to drink the water without boiling it first. The authority advises residents to boil all water for at least one minute and then let it cool before using it.
“Boiled, bottled or disinfected water should be used for drinking, making ice, washing dishes, brushing teeth and preparing food until further notice,” the agency said.
