Mebane residents were told Wednesday to ration their water usage, with the city down to less than two days’ worth of available clean drinking water.
The alert went out shortly after 10 a.m. as the city declared a CodeRED emergency, according to a news release.
The city, which lies in Alamance and Orange counties, gets its water from the Graham-Mebane Water Treatment Plant. The plant was damaged during the flooding from remnants of Tropical Depression Chantal on Sunday.
“The restrictions could remain in place for multiple days until the Water Treatment Plant is producing potable drinking water; all industries, businesses, offices, and non-residential units should cease operations,” the release said.
Grocery stores, health care facilities and drug stores are exempted from the restrictions.
Under the restrictions, residents and businesses can only use water for drinking when bottled water isn’t available, required medical use and limited restroom use, not including showers.
The restriction plan will be enforced by city officials and local law enforcement, according to the release, though it’s not clear how they’ll do so. Residents are being asked to buy and use bottled water for the foreseeable future.
The city did not have an estimate Wednesday for when the plant would resume operations. Mebane officials will share information on distribution sites for bottled water as soon as possible, according to the release.
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