{"id":311361,"date":"2026-05-12T03:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/311361\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T03:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:11:11","slug":"oakland-county-water-main-break-raises-concerns-about-aging-infrastructure-in-mid-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/311361\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland County water main break raises concerns about aging infrastructure in Mid-Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WILX) – A massive water main break in Oakland County <\/a>is raising concerns about aging underground infrastructure across Michigan, including in Mid-Michigan communities.<\/p>\n

The 42-inch transmission line ruptured Sunday in Auburn Hills, prompting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to declare a state of emergency in Oakland County. Communities including Auburn Hills, Orion Township, Lake Orion, and Rochester Hills remain under water restrictions as crews continue repairs.<\/p>\n

The Great Lakes Water Authority said crews have removed the damaged section of pipe and are preparing to install a new section of main. Residents are still being urged to limit water use to essential needs.<\/p>\n

\"MassiveMassive water main break in Oakland County prompts state of emergency(Great Lakes Water Authority)\"WaterWater over the road after 42-inch water main breaks in Oakland County(Great Lakes Water Authority)<\/p>\n

In Mid-Michigan, officials say that while the scale of the Oakland County break is unusual, water main failures are common for utilities statewide.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn average, we have about 20 main breaks a year,\u201d said Dan Opsommer, Deputy Township Manager and Director of Meridian Township Public Works and Engineering. \u201cIt\u2019s a recurring issue in every system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opsommer told News 10 aging infrastructure remains one of the biggest challenges facing local water systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these assets, whether it\u2019s a water main or a water tower, they all have a finite lifecycle,\u201d Opsommer said, adding that due to this, \u201cthey do need to be replaced in order to ensure that they\u2019re functioning properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WaterOakland County water main break raises concerns about aging infrastructure in Mid-Michigan(WILX)<\/p>\n

State Sen. Sarah Anthony said communities continue facing financial pressure while trying to maintain infrastructure systems.<\/p>\n

In a statement to News 10, Anthony said \u201cthe increase in water infrastructure failures we\u2019re seeing across Michigan is incredibly concerning, but unfortunately not surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony described these failures as a \u201cfinancial squeeze.\u201d She added that they\u2019re \u201cworking to address that in this year\u2019s budget by locking in stable revenue sharing from the state and providing additional resources for local governments recovering from natural disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials say recovery from the Auburn Hills break could take up to two weeks.<\/p>\n

Stream News 10 on your favorite devices! Here\u2019s how to download the WILX app on Roku, Fire TV or Apple TV.<\/a><\/p>\n

Be the first to see the Mid-Michigan headlines you care about \u2013 download the News 10 mobile app<\/a> and subscribe to our News 10 newsletter<\/a> and YouTube page<\/a> to receive the latest local news and weather.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WILX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WILX) – A massive water main break in Oakland County is raising concerns about aging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[6577,17817,166,3978,129793,96353,8076,130508,40351,23,42851,795,130509,143,145,144,20477,646,20234,53224],"class_list":["post-311361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-authority","tag-break","tag-county","tag-emergency","tag-glwa","tag-great","tag-infrastructure","tag-ingham","tag-lakes","tag-local-news","tag-main","tag-michigan","tag-mid-michigan","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-pipes","tag-water","tag-water-main","tag-whitmer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}