UPDATE:
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality updated the water order Saturday evening. It now is under a boil order:
"Use water that has been brought to a full, rolling boil for at least one minute, bottled water, or water from another acceptable source for consumption, use in food preparation, dish-washing and brushing teeth. This Boil Order replaces the previous Do Not Use Order and was issued due to the lack of water pressure over a prolonged period of time."
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"In my time here we have not dealt with anything like this."
McAlester-Pittsburg County Emergency Management Director Kevin Enloe says engineers and electricians are working round the clock to figure out what caused the city's key water pump and backup pump to fail Tuesday night, and how and when the public can drink from its water supply again.
The priority now, Enloe said, is keeping water flowing with help from city fire engine pumps while getting outside aid from state, tribal, and surrounding municipalities to deliver potable water.
"The water that is coming to town (from the fire engine pumps), currently they're able to use that water for flushing the toilet," Enloe said. "They can take a bath (and) wash their hands. It's all for non-consumption."
A mandatory "Do Not Use" water order is in effect for the entire city of McAlester, plus the Pittsburg County Rural Water districts of 5, 6, 7, 9, and 16.
According to local and state officials, if you're not sure that this includes your home you can check your water bill and it will say where your service comes from.
Because equipment that's not up to protocol must be used to continue the flow, Erin Hatfield from Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, said nothing can test and separate the water to consume it.
"It is the potential for that contamination we don't know what could be in the water and again using equipment that is not approved to come in contact with a water then caused the situation where that Do Not Use order had to be issued," Hatfield said.
Enloe and Hatfield told 2 News the most reasonable hope to see the mandatory water order lifted is sometime next week.
For now, affected residents who want to get free drinking water have to come to select city pickup stations that the city website and its social medias are announcing.
This leaves residents like Carol Weeks and her pup with few options if she can't come during the limited pickup times.
"We'll buy water I guess, if McAlester don't furnish it to us(sic). I don't know how they can," Weeks said. "Just do as little as possible."
The DEQ confirms that water can still be run to wash most clothes, wash hands in, and shower in.
Until then, the state penitentiary in McAlester is limiting its emergency water bottles to just two each day for each inmate, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
Local schools and hospitals also will have to bring in water bottles with help from the state's department of health.
"The biggest thing (for affected residents) is conserve water, because if we can get things going and (water) pressure coming back into town...the quicker we can get the system back up," Enloe said.
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