Boil water alert issued for metro Detroit cities

(WJBK) - A drop in water pressure has caused water to possibly be contaminated in certain parts of metro Detroit.

The boil water alert is for the cities of Hamtramck, Highland Park and in Detroit, south of McNichols, east of Linwood and west of Connor.

The Great Lakes Water Authority says that there was a temporary loss of water pressure in the water distribution system Tuesday evening, due to an "equipment malfunction."

"We had restaurants that had to close down. They had no water, some had no water pressure," said Mark Ragsdale, director of public services in Hamtramck.

The authorities were able to get the water pressure back to normal.

However, because of the low water pressure, bacteria could have gotten into the water supply.

As a precaution, residents can't drink the water unless it's boiled.

The state must test the water to make sure it's OK by going to various test points across the city.

They won't know if it meets the standard until Friday.

But until then residents better beware. 

We're told that you better boil the water before you brush your teeth, but for bathing, you're OK.