Nearly one week in, boil water order that includes Burtchville Township continues

Close to a week since a massive break in the Great Lakes Water Authority's 120-inch water transmission main, the order to boil water encompassing Burtchville Township remains in place.

On Friday, GLWA said in a release that crews were still on track to complete repairs to the pipeline that runs from its Lake Huron Water Treatment Facility through northern St. Clair County by Sept. 3 — a deadline extended by a week Tuesday in a call to media.

Crews had reportedly stabilized the existing pipe and were expected to begin cutting the damaged section to prepare it for removal by crane on Saturday.

In addition to Burtchville, which is the only St. Clair County community included in the authority's water system, the village of Almont, Imlay City, city of Rochester, and Bruce, Shelby and Washington townships were still under the boil water advisory.

The water main first broke early Saturday, initially placing 23 communities in four counties, also including Macomb, Oakland, and Lapeer, under the boil order due to low and changing water pressure, which can cause bacterial contamination in the water system. States of emergency at both the state level and in St. Clair County were declared. Within a couple of days, much of the water pressure was reportedly restored, and a host of communities were removed from the boil order. An industrial site in Romeo and the DTE Greenwood site in western St. Clair County also remained under the order Friday.

Included in the work for water main crews included site preparation for delivery of 48 feet of additional 120-inch-wide pipe on Tuesday.

Daily updates were being made available by the water authority through ww.glwater.org.

Bottled or packaged water for Burtchvilel residents was available daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Burtchvilel Fire Department, 4000 Burtch Road.