As thousands of Mississippi residents continue to grapple with the effects of a citywide water outage, the state’s governor says the road to recovering access back to clean plentiful drinking water on tap could be a long one, CNN reports.

“After the briefing I just received, things are not significantly worse today than they were yesterday,” said Gov. Tate Reeves. “They’re not significantly better, but we are seeing some progress and have some plans in place to see more progress.” As previously reported by REVOLT, on Tuesday (Aug. 30), Reeves declared an official emergency and announced plans to distribute drinking and non-drinking water to 180,000 residents through the National Guard. “Please stay safe,” he said. “Do not drink the water. In too many cases, it is raw water from the reservoir being pushed through the pipes. Be smart, protect yourself, protect your family.”

Residents revealed that the plan of action quickly proved to be a failure when the 700 cases of water ran out. “I keep saying we’re going to be the next Michigan,” said Jeraldine Watts, referring to the water crisis that the city of Flint has faced since 2014. “And it looks like that’s exactly what we’re headed for.” Jackson citizens of all ages stood in lines that spanned miles, awaiting a chance to get just one case of bottled water. The event, which was set to last for a few hours, ended within the span of two hours.

Earlier this morning (Aug. 31), President Joe Biden backed the Mississippi’s governor decision to declare a state of emergency due to the “water crisis.” “We are committed to helping the people of Jackson and the state of Mississippi during this urgent time of need,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a tweet. According to Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the shortage is expected to continue for “the next couple of days.”