OXFORD TWP. – A water main break that occurred in the early morning hours of Tuesday, Aug. 23 near the intersection of W. Drahner and Newman roads led the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner’s Office (WRC) to issue a precautionary boil water notice.

Until further notice, a large portion of township water users are advised to boil all tap water used for drinking and cooking or use bottled water as an alternative. Tap water should be boiled for at least 5 minutes and allowed to cool before consumption.

This notice is for customers who receive their water from the township system and are located in the south pressure district. The affected area is south of Golf Villa Dr., east of Sanders Rd., north of the Oxford/Orion border, west of S. Lapeer Rd. and includes the Hills of Oxford development.

“In the Oxford Township system, there’s actually four different pressure districts,” explained Connie Sims, a WRC environmental planner. “The other three were not affected by this, but the south, which was (impacted), is the largest pressure district. It has the most connections in it.”

Approximately 2002 residential connections and 41 commercial connections are affected by this notice.

Nine of those connections are food service businesses.

They include Dairy Queen (1225 S. Lapeer Rd.), The Golden Nugget (1055 S. Lapeer Rd.), Country Coney (1040 S. Lapeer Rd.), DK Donuts & Burgers (1090 S. Lapeer Rd.), Italia Gardens (1076 S. Lapeer Rd.), Tami’s Grille (1386 S. Lapeer Rd.), Guido’s Pizza (1396 S. Lapeer Rd.) and Jimmy John’s (1530 S. Lapeer Rd.). The ninth affected food business is the Burger King at 583 S. Lapeer Rd., but it’s been closed.

Sims explained whenever something happens that depressurizes the water system, such as a main break, “there’s a potential” for pollutants to enter the system.

That’s why this boil water notice has been issued as a purely precautionary measure.

“While we don’t know that there is a problem with the water, we can’t say for sure that it’s safe because this happened,” Sims said.

No actual contamination has been detected at this point.

Repairs are being made and once the area has been flushed, two sets of water samples will be taken and tested, according to Sims.

“They’ll pull the first set today. They’ll pull a second set tomorrow,” she said.

If the water is deemed safe, the boil water notice will be terminated.

When asked how long the notice should last, Sims replied, “At least 24 hours, possibly 48. We typically get two sets of samples back that are good before we lift it. Sometimes we’ll lift after one, but we still take the second set of samples . . . We’ll have to talk internally. I don’t know if we’ll lift after one. But after two sets, for sure, of good results, then we lift it.”

“Again, it’s precautionary. We don’t know that there is something wrong with it, but to be (safe, people) should boil it for drinking and food preparation,” she added.

According to Oxford Fire Chief Pete Scholz, he learned about the main break at approximately 5 a.m. when his wife informed him they had no running water at their condominium in the Oxford Oaks development on the south side of Seymour Lake Rd., just west of the village.

According to Scholz and Sims, a cap blew off the end of a dead-end water main with a 12-inch diameter that runs between W. Drahner Rd. and Harvard Ct. on the west side of Newman Rd. That dead-end main is approximately 30 feet long and connected to a 16-inch main that runs along W. Drahner Rd.

“There was water all the way across Newman Road,” Scholz said.

This break, coupled with the typical demand for water, which is at its highest in the morning, led to the emptying of the 500,000-gallon elevated storage tower located in the Red Barn subdivision, south of W. Drahner Rd.

“It was a large break,” Sims said.

For more information about the boil water notice, please call the WRC at (248) 858-1555 between 6:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday or visit www.oakgov.com/water. The after-hours phone number is (248) 624-6366.