In her 34 years of working at the Flower Cart, it's a situation Diana Hanes has never experienced.

Hanes company, along with every other business and home in North East, are now under a boil water advisory.

While it hasn't impacted her business, it has created issues at home.

"I have two twin granddaughters at home who are three-years-old," said Hanes.  "We like to water down their juice, now,  I have to boil the water too."

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued the order after inspecting the borough's water filter plant.

The organization reported tears in the floating cover at Fairchild Reservoir, which provides finished water for both the borough and township.

"Here's yet another crisis in our community due to failng infrastructure," said Erie County Executive Brenton Davis.  "Had we have been using our casino gaming revenue appropriately for the last 15 years or so, I said those tings could have been 100 percent avodiable."

On Saturday, Davis and environmental protection specialists with the Erie County Health Department met with North East businesses and restaurants to offer guidance.

"It is the holiday season," said environmental protection specialist Annabelle Russell.  "The restaurants are open.  We are here providing that gudiance for them to produce the food as safely as they can as a precautionary measure."

A temporary fix of the torn cover is scheduled for Monday.

According to Davis, the township needs a long-term solution.

"The residents of North East, there's 10,000 without water they can drink," said Davis.  "This is just a repair on Monday that doesn't solve the problem and they are looking potentially at a $500,000 bill to get themselves out of this."

Erie News Now reached out to North East Borough Manager Patrick Gehrlin for comment. However, we have not heard back from him.