City of Big Spring issues public notice: Surface Water Treatment Technique violation

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) sets minimum water quality standards for public drinking water. [These standards include enforceable treatment technique requirements for drinking water. Inadequately treated water may contain disease-causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches.]

The PWS NAME, PWS ID

TX1140001, failed to meet the minimum treatment technique requirements for the month of February 2021. Specifically, our water system had:

Violation List:

• More than 5% of the combined filter effluent turbidity readings were above 0.3 NTU for the month.

What is being done? The City of Big Spring experienced high turbidity reading from February 18 to February 24, 2021, due to the freezing weather, which caused the interruption of the treatment process. To protect the public from any potential health hazard, the City issued the boiling notice to the public on February 16, 2021, and lifted the boiling on February 24, 2021, after the Microbiological samples came back negative.

Please share this information with all people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (i.e., people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

If you have questions regarding this matter, you may contact Shane Bowles at 432-264-2501.