Public meeting held on Williams Bay 'Do Not Drink' order, officials say water expected to be drinkable by end of week

WILLIAMS BAY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- People in Williams Bay have been forced to not use their tap water for the last six days because of an order saying it's unsafe. Tuesday night, those people had their first chance to speak out about concerns. 

The Village of Williams Bay hosted a town hall public meeting at the Williams Bay School campus.

The meeting comes on day six of the order advising people in the village not to use tap water for drinking, cooking, or activities like brushing their teeth. 

A couple hundred people attended the meeting, hearing from the village and officials from the DNR and health department. 

According to the DNR, everything started when a 2-year-old and 4-year-old developed cases of blue baby syndrome.

The DNR found high levels of nitrites in the water and deemed it unsafe.

There were several questions Tuesday night about how the village is working to clean the water, and their answer was that they're working to fix an unregulated issue by flushing chlorine into certain parts of the area. 

One big question has been how long this issue is going to last. 

Leslie Bartz lives in Williams Bay and says the last six days have been stressful. She said she planned on being at the meeting Tuesday night.

“I just want to know when this thing’s gonna end,” Bartz said “That is my only question, even if they tell me it’s going to be a month, it’s going to be two, whatever, I just want to know a day, I really do just want to know a day.”

"I wanna see how long this is going to last," said Williams Bay resident Mary Quinlan. "And I wonder if they can give us any indication how long it's been going on."

"I'm a former lawyer, so I'm concerned about the liability of the village as well as the safety of all the individuals who live in the village, and the people who come in and out the village, foremost," said Victoria Gillio. 

According to the county emergency management team, the water should be drinkable by the end of the week.