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Due to a shutdown of the Jones Ferry Road Water Treatment Plant and a major water main break Friday morning on the northeast side of Chapel Hill, near Dobbins Drive, the water supply in the OWASA system reached very low levels, officials said. A state of emergency was declared for Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Officials said using water could result in contamination of the OWASA system. Customers were encouraged to use bottled water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene. Bottled water can also be used to flush a toilet after pouring the water into the tank, officials said. Ice made after 11:00 a.m. should be discarded. Patients, guests and employees at UNC Hospitals are also unable to drink tap water or use it to wash their hands. But they say they have adequate supply of bottled water on site. Ed Kerwin, executive director of OWASA, said he estimated that 1.5 to 2 million gallons of water was lost in the break, and that at least 80,000 customers were affected – 250 customers were without services entirely. "This is essentially a worst case scenario," he said. UNC Housing @unchousing HALLS WON'T CLOSE. Students are encouraged to leave if possible, but port -o-johns are coming & bottled water is being delivered to Rams Head 3:23 PM - 3 Feb 2017 Kerwin also said that it could be at least 48 hours before the Jones Ferry Road Water Treatment Plant was once again producing clean drinking water. Due to the water main break, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools dismissed students early. According to a tweet by UNC Housing, dorms will not close, but students were encouraged to leave campus if possible. The UNC men's basketball game against Notre Dame was moved to Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum. View image on Twitter Alison Stuebe @astuebe