The taps were turned back on Wednesday in four southeast Michigan communities that had been under severe water use restrictions since Sunday.
Residents in Orion Township, the village of Lake Orion, and the cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills had been under instruction to limit their water usage to only what was "absolutely necessary."
In Pontiac, outdoor water use was restricted.
Now, said Orion Township Manager Chris Barnett at a Wednesday news conference, "You can do anything you want with water. Shower, wash your car — wash your car twice. And take two showers. Do your laundry. And I'm sorry, you have to do dishes again."
The restrictions were lifted after crews replaced a broken section of a 42-inch water main in Auburn Hills that ruptured over the weekend while workers were trying to repair a leak, draining pressure from the pipes in surrounding communities.
Barnett said people rose to the challenge. "We knew our residents would band together," he said, thanking people for curtailing their water use.
While the pressure is back in the pipes, the next step is testing the water system to make sure it's safe. A boil water advisory is still in place until that's done.
The Great Lakes Water Authority said that's a multi-day process.
And once the boil water advisory is lifted, there's another series of steps that officials say residents should follow before they drink the water.
