{"id":27865,"date":"2026-05-12T21:50:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/27865\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T21:50:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:50:28","slug":"oakland-county-water-main-break-a-rough-timeline-on-repairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/27865\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland County water main break: A rough timeline on repairs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. \u2013 Oakland County leaders gave a rough timeline on Tuesday for the water main repairs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett was joined by Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) CEO Suzanne Coffey, Auburn Hills Mayor Eugene Hawkins, Chief of Communications for Rochester Hills Nathan Mueller and many other city and county officials at the township hall on May 12.<\/p>\n<p>Background<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">A 42-inch water main burst at River Woods Park in Auburn Hills on May 10.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">GLWA said the water main was discovered leaking on May 6. Crews were working to reroute water, but the water main broke at around 1:30 a.m. on May 10 before rerouting was completed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">This pipe was installed in 1975 and was supposed to last 100 years. It\u2019s only been about 50 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Related &#8211;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/local\/2026\/05\/11\/a-42-inch-pipe-broke-50-years-too-soon-heres-where-things-stand-for-oakland-county-communities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/local\/2026\/05\/11\/a-42-inch-pipe-broke-50-years-too-soon-heres-where-things-stand-for-oakland-county-communities\/\">A 42-inch pipe broke 50 years too soon. Here\u2019s where things stand for Oakland County communities<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cA very small percentage of this kind of pipe can have a defect in it,\u201d Coffey said. \u201cThey called it a \u2018manufacturing anomaly\u2019 that creates a condition where it ages more rapidly than it should. But 96% of the pipe is good. It\u2019s $20 million a mile to replace the pipe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Water main repair timeline<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Coffey said the repaired section of the pipe was placed at around 6 p.m. on Monday. She said by 2 a.m. on Tuesday, the pipe was full of water and at normal pressure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">She said GLWA is flushing the system, which will likely take until Thursday, and water testing will be done by Sunday or Monday next week. An estimated completion date for the repairs has not yet been set.<\/p>\n<p>Water restrictions<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Barnett reminded residents of water restrictions, such as not running the dishwasher, using the washing machine, washing a car or watering plants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Residents can take a shower, but Barnett said those showers should be quick, like a military shower.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Orion Township schools will remain closed until Thursday, May 14, as repairs continue. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">An order was lifted for restaurants in the affected areas, but only for businesses that don\u2019t use a lot of water. Businesses such as car washes remain closed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Hawkins said the northern part of Auburn Hills, above University Drive and Cross Creek, is still under a boil water advisory. The southern part is under emergency-use water restrictions, meaning residents are subject to the same restrictions as Orion Township, but not under a boil-water advisory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Rochester Hills is also under a water restriction, but not under a boil-water advisory.<\/p>\n<p>Meeting with restaurant owners<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">At 1 p.m., there will be a briefing with the Oakland County Health Department, specifically for restaurant owners in the impacted areas, to understand safety precautions during the water restriction and boil-water advisory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oriontownship.org\/_T7_R109.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.oriontownship.org\/_T7_R109.php\">Visit Orion Township\u2019s website for details.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. \u2013 Oakland County leaders gave a rough timeline on Tuesday for the water main repairs.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[16494,8,9,15667,16493,16543,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-27865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-auburn-hills","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-oakland-county","12":"tag-orion-township","13":"tag-rochester-hills","14":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116563818747949798","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}