Texans have warned to boil and conserve water as power outages persist

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The early Texans lost their power. Now they are losing their drinking water.

After enduring several days of freezing temperatures and dripping Texans’ faucets to keep frozen pipes from bursting, cities across the state on Wednesday warned residents that water levels are dangerously low and may be unsafe to drink . They ask Texans to boil tap water for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth and making ice – as residents struggle to maintain electricity and heat during an unprecedented winter storm whips the state. Activities such as showering and washing clothes are safe, but cities with boil water advisories ask people to conserve water if possible.

About 420 public water systems in 120 counties in Texas have reported service disruptions, affecting more than 8 million people, according to a spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Wednesday afternoon.

“The water pressure is very low. Please do not run water to prevent the pipes from bursting ”, Sylvester Turner, Mayor of Houston tweeted Wednesday morning. “Turn off the water if the pipes have burst. Please contact us if you don’t know how to turn off the water. Be careful about the use of water today. It is necessary for hospitals and fires. “

Austin Mayor Steve Adler on Wednesday afternoon agreed that dripping faucets were the right advice earlier this week, but now it’s in people’s best interests to “shift gears and keep going. water”. The city is also using volunteers who can help transport people from their homes to warming centers.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Toby Baker, executive director of TCEQ, said the water quality problems were linked to lack of electricity, frozen and broken water pipes and people leaking so much. the taps that this caused a drop in water pressure. Baker also said testing would be needed to show the water is safe before boil water advisories can be lifted. There are only 135 labs in the state doing this sampling, he said, which means boil water advisories could persist.

“It is not known when the water supplies will be replenished, but energy constraints often impact the water system as the water system requires energy for treatment and pumping,” said Michael Webber. , professor of energy resources at the University of Texas at Austin.

But with freezing temperatures expected to persist throughout the week, bursting pipes could still be a risk, Webber said.

“As temperatures drop back below freezing again presents the risk of water freezing in the pipes, which can block the flow of water or damage the pipes,” said Webber.

The loss of drinking water is a devastating blow to Texans who still suffer from power losses in freezing weather.

Madie Leon Riley, a Pflugerville resident who has been without water since Monday morning, said she didn’t know when her faucet will be able to turn on – or when her toilet will be able to flush without melting the snow. keep the water flow moving. Her mother and husband, who currently live with her, also boil snow as make-up drinking water.

“No grocery store is open in our region, so there is no chance of restocking, even if you are one of the few who own a car capable of covering the kilometers necessary to have water”, Riley, a 27-year-old writer, told the Texas Tribune.

A Fort Worth resident reported a small “pencil-wide” spray of water in his home. A Houston-area woman who lives near the medical center collected water for about an hour yesterday afterward, but said it was brown and undrinkable. A San Antonio resident said their water froze even after turning on their faucets.

On Tuesday, more than 200,000 residents of northern Fort Worth, as well as residents of Keller, Southlake, Roanoke and other neighboring communities were asked to boil their water as power outages affected treatment plants in the water, reported the Dallas Morning News.

On the same day, several municipalities in the Houston area, including the Pearland, Katy and Greatwood-Sugarland areas, also issued the same instructions to their customers, the Houston Chronicle reported.

At midday Wednesday, Austin Water was encouraging residents in the south of the city to boil water before drinking – but maintained that there were “no contaminants detected in the water we supply. .

“#AustinWater ask southwest customers #Austin and the Lost Creek neighborhood to boil their water before using it for drinking or cooking, until further notice ”, Austin Water tweeted. “This boil water advisory is currently found in specific areas and is a precautionary measure to ensure the health and safety of our customers.”

The city of Arlington has also issued a notice asking residents to boil water before consuming it. Corpus Christi has done it too.

For now, it is not known when cities will be able to lift their boil water advisories. While parts of Austin have issued precautionary advisories, other cities, such as San Angelo, have gone days without drinking water after city officials found industrial chemicals contaminated the system. water.