Frequent water main breaks have been a constant issue for residents in areas such as Sterling Heights, Madison Heights and Fraser this summer.

It's happening at the same time that the Great Lakes Water Authority's treatment facility serving those areas is experiencing some issues.

The northeast water plant has been experiencing interruptions all summer, and city leaders say this is where their water main break issues are starting.

Great Lakes Water Authority officials met with city officials from Fraser, Madison Heights and Sterling Heights and confirmed that they're investigating the cause of the water main breaks with DTE and the impacted communities.

"Madison Heights has had over 64 water main breaks since June 18. No one really understands the root cause of why the water main breaks are occurring, so they are all hands on deck," said Madison Heights city manager Melissa Marsh.

Marsh says she feels it all starts with the issues at the Northeast water plant.

"When there's interruptions at this service center, it stops the flow of water from 70 pounds of pressure. It pushes it out at almost 100 pounds of pressure, and it comes through and just causes water main breaks in several surrounding areas," she said.

Marsh says the city's pipes are fine and its water is safe, but each repair takes a toll on its budget.

"We have an extremely tight budget, and 64 water main breaks, of course, not only cause the crew to be working 24 hours to get that fixed, but we also have to pay overtime, we have disruptions in our water service, it's disruptive to our residents," Marsh said.

She says she has questions about whether the Great Lakes Water Authority or DTE will reimburse them for these repairs once the investigation is over, but in the meantime, they'll continue to have weekly meetings with both providers until they confirm what's causing all these water main breaks.