Germantown residents remain under a limited water use order following an announcement Thursday, July 20, that diesel fuel had leaked into an underground water reservoir. 

City residents are only to use water for flushing toilets and the water testing was underway as of 3:24 p.m. Friday, according to an update from the city. The update said that results were expected later Friday. 

The Shelby County Health Department also sent out information Friday warning Germantown residents not to drink or use their tap water including for showering, bathing or washing their hands.

“Boiling the water will not help and may increase the toxin levels,” a release from the department said. 

The department said it would post an updated advisory when the water order was lifted or any changes to it are made.

The city will open a water distribution site for those in need at Forest Hill Elementary School at 4 p.m. It will operate the site until 7 p.m. or until supplies are gone. 

Overnight, afternoon storms create new power outages

Residents can sign up to receive Germantown Alert text notices by texting “Alert” to 901-979-9955 or visiting http://Germantown-TN.gov/alert.

Following reports that the tap water had a strong odor Thursday morning, the city said it was determined at 2:45 p.m. that a generator being used to power the Southern Avenue water treatment facility during the current power outage was leaking diesel fuel into an underground reservoir.

The notice only affects Germantown municipal customers, not Memphis Light, Gas and Water customers, according to the health department.

In 2021, the City of Germantown reported having 14,000 water customers.

About 140,000 MLGW customers lost power following the storms that struck on Tuesday. By 4 p.m. Thursday, the number of MLGW customers without power was around 18,000.

The majority of remaining outages earlier Thursday were in Germantown, Hickory Hill, East Memphis, Raleigh, Berclair and Frayser.