New London Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio said about 150 elderly and disabled residents of the New London Housing Authority apartments at 202 Colman St. have been affected.

A Senior Center bus driven by Tommie Major, director of the city’s recreation department, was taking the residents to the center, where they will be provided with food and water and given access to bathrooms.

Finizio said if the water emergency is not resolved within the next few hours, he would either arrange for water bottles to be delivered or station a water truck in front of the complex.

In the worst case scenario, he said he would open an emergency shelter.

Norm Leonard, a resident of the housing complex, said he noticed the loss of water around 10 p.m. Wednesday.

He said he wasn’t able to flush his toilet, do his dishes and even had to wash his dentures with soda.

A visiting nurse who was seeing another resident in the complex was handing out water bottles from a case of water she had bought.

Rich Sadosky, who also lives in the building, said many residents woke up this morning and discovered that they didn’t have any water.

“There are people who can’t come out, but then they can’t be in an apartment without water either otherwise that’s jeopardizing their health,” said Sadosky.

Finizio declared a state of emergency at 8:13 a.m. after a “massive water leak” was discovered in the city’s water system that he said could leave the city without water within hours and could last for several days.

The mayor said at his second press conference of the day that the city activated its water reserves and has been able to tap into Groton’s water supply.

He said the worst-case scenario may have been averted, although he was not yet comfortable declaring that.