Long weekend in store for communities still dealing with water main break

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Five days after a 48-inch water main break and more communities like Keego Harbor and Bloomfield Township are once again free to use their water without restriction.

That still leaves seven communities under a boil water advisory. Those include: Commerce Township,  Farmington Hills (north of I-696), Orchard Lake Village, Walled Lake, West Bloomfield Township, Wixom  and parts of Novi (bounded by 14 Mile on the north, 8 mile on the south, Napier on the west and Haggerty on the east).

Some of those are relieved to get back to normal but are taking away lessons along with their clean drinking water.

"We can now see how people live who don't have clean water," said Gloria Bruhowzi. "It's a wakeup call to people to see the conveniences we have here."

"I think about the people in flint and Puerto Rico and what they are going through and figure this is minor," said Bob Thomas.

At its peak the water main break affected more than 300,000 customers and that includes businesses and hospitals.

Bottled water is being used as a precaution at Henry Ford in West Bloomfield where more than 50 patients have been transferred to Detroit for care.

The Great Lakes Water Authority tests the water in each community every 24 hours and requires two clean results in a row to issue the all clear. The hope is to have all communities restored by Sunday.

The priorities right now are fixing the break, restoring pressure, and lifting advisories. Then they will launch an investigation as to what caused the break in the first place.