MELVINDALE, Mich. – A steady stream of cars pulled into the Melvindale Fieldhouse on Thursday afternoon as residents were getting bottles and bags full of clean, potable water, as the city is under a boil water advisory.
“I think a mistake got made, and we’re trying to deal with it,” Chris Egan, Melvindale’s interim police chief, said. “It’s a collective effort. That’s what Melvindale does.”
“We knew we had a time frame that we had to try and provide some kind of resource to get people,” said Egan. “So we don’t want them drinking the water.”
The city, with assistance from the Great Lakes Water Authority, which supplies water to Melvindale, distributed bottles of water for the second consecutive day.
The Great Lakes Water Authority also set up tanks and began filling bags, each capable of holding a gallon of water, as cars wrapped around the building.
The advisory was called on Wednesday (Oct. 8) after a sudden water shutoff led to a drop in water pressure, and it raised concerns about possible bacterial contamination in the city’s water supply.
A number of residents told Local 4 the water was coming out of faucets either orange or pink.
“My kids are scared of drinking this kind of water,” Dave Said, a longtime Melvindale resident, said. “We don’t know how it’s come up with this bacteria. I think they need to do something.”
The source of the problem has been traced to a valve issue with the Detroit Department of Water and Sewage.
During routine maintenance, a valve malfunctioned, causing the water to shut off in Melvindale.
Residents are advised not to drink tap water without boiling it first for purposes such as drinking, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and preparing food.
The city says they are actively working to fully restore water pressure, and they’re flushing the water system and collecting bacteria samples.
They hope to have this issue resolved before the weekend.
“We’re planning on waiting another 24 hours,” Egan said. “We’ll talk to Richard Hayes and the Great Lakes Water Authority again if we have to do this again tomorrow.
The city will be giving out water on Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The advisory will remain in effect until test results confirm the water is safe to drink.
For updates, residents should check out the city’s main website, melvindale.org, or the city of Melvindale’s Facebook page.