(WXYZ) — The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) has extended its boil water advisory for communities in the Village of Almont, Bruce Township, Burtchville Township, Imlay City, City of Rochester, Shelby Township, and Washington Township until September 3.
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This comes as inspections revealed that the broken pipe had greater damage than anticipated.
The boil water advisory is affecting more than 100,000 in the metro Detroit area and now many communities are calling on the state to step up and get their residents the needed resources and help they need to make it through.
"It's a very inconvenient situation. Even though you've got water you can't use it," Dean Fehn of Shelby Township said.
Shelby Township is one of the six communities still under GWLA's boil water advisory. Officials in the town have stepped up to help community residents by supplying bottled water, but many residents say it's not enough.
Just Tuesday, officials had about 2,300 water bottles to pass out. In some places, the supply ran out in an hour.
"We can use a lot more water and I guess the governor's office is doing everything possible to get us more water, but right now we just don't have enough," Shelby Township Supervisor Rick Stathakis said.
On Wednesday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for four counties in order to make available all state resources for the communities in need. Sterling Heights and Troy are urging residents to restrict their outdoor water use, including not watering lawns.
She tells 7 Action News that her office is doing all it can do.
“We’ve been moving as quickly as possible,” Governor Whitmer said. “Making sure that people in the community have access to information so they can stay safe has been our top priority in the immediate aftermath of the break.”
Stathakis predicts that his township alone will need double the amount of water they currently have to keep up with demand, especially with the advisory being pushed back an additional week.
"I hope they ramp it up because we're organized, we're ready. We just don't have enough water," he said.
