****UPDATE: The Do Not Use order was lifted Saturday afternoon. The water distribution sites will closed at six o’clock Saturday evening.****

Residents of southern Orange County are scrambling to find bottled water on Saturday after being issued an order saying they could not use their tap water.

The do not use order came from Orange Water and Sewer Authority came around 11:30 on Friday morning after a water main break in northeast Chapel Hill created what OWASA executive director Ed Kerwin called a “worst case scenario.”

The water main break followed the Jones Ferry Road Water Treatment Plant having to be shut down on Thursday because of an accidental fluoride overfeed. OWASA customers then began receiving drinking water from the City of Durham and were asked to conserve water, until the break in the water line.

The do not use order led to a rush to local businesses to buy what bottled water was available. But shelves quickly ran dry.

All OWASA-served restaurants were also forced by the Orange County Health Department to close due to the shortage.

Harris Teeter distributed free gallon or three-liter water jugs to residents impacted by the shortage on Friday night, limiting distribution to three per person.

Water distribution sites have been established for Chapel Hill and Carrboro to begin dispensing water at 10 o’clock on Saturday morning. Those locations are the Hargraves Community Center and Southern Community Park in Chapel Hill. In Carrboro, residents can pick up water from McDougle Elementary and Carrboro High School.

University Place is set to operate on a tenant option today – other than the restaurants, which remain closed due to the order from the health department. But any business in University Place that opens is being required to “provide bottled water in a quantity sufficient to sustain the needs of your employees and customers.” The mall’s public restrooms will be closed.

The Chapel Hill Farmer’s Market, which operated at University Place is operating on Saturday.

Officials said on Friday afternoon that it would be at least 24 hours before any testing results would show whether the do not use order could be altered.

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