Water woes continue after icy weather
Galveston and Pearland were among localities wrestling with water issues following the icy storm that paralyzed Southeast Texas.
Galveston and Pearland were among several localities wrestling with water issues on Thursday following the ice storm that paralyzed Southeast Texas this week.
Galveston officials on Thursday night reported receiving an “unprecedented amount of water leaks due to frozen pipes” in the wake of temperatures that hovered in the 20s on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“The City’s utility billing office has received over 3,000 phone calls over the last day and a half and expect the number to continue to rise,” officials said in a news release. “The City’s municipal utilities crews have been working 16-hour shifts since Monday and will begin working around the clock as we begin to assist residents with shut offs.”
Houston city officials reported receiving 997 calls on Wednesday about water leaks, valve shutoffs and hydrants, compared to 289 a week earlier.
The Trinity Bay Conservation District, which oversees the water supply for most of East Chambers County and part of West Jefferson County, issued a boil water advisory for the entire region due to low water pressure from busted pipes.
In Pearland, officials were trying to determine what caused two of the city’s water treatment plants to malfunction, resulting in a boil-water advisory that was expected to extend into Friday morning. It was unclear if those problems were weather-related.
Emergency situations
Galveston officials said leaks on the island had depleted the city’s water supply, dropping reserve tanks to below 60 percent of capacity and requiring enactment of stage 4 of the city’s drought contingency plan.
City crews were working to assist residents given the nature of the cold snap and the limited number of plumbers on the island. The city said it was prepared to “forgive any excess use due to the inclement weather” on customers’ water bills.
Residents have been asked to conserve water until most freezerelated leaks are fixed, and will be subject to fines for non-essential uses of potable water.
“This is quickly becoming a water emergency, and we hope that residents will heed the message and help us to conserve the water we do have in reserves,” City Manager Brian Maxwell said in a written statement. “We are hoping to quickly resolve these issues and rescind the mandatory water rationing as soon as possible.”
Farther up Interstate 45, Pearland spokeswoman Sparkle Anderson said Thursday that officials continued investigating what went wrong with its water tanks and awaited test results that might reveal any contaminants. Residents affected include all those who live in Pearland neighborhoods west of State Highway 288.
Anderson said the city’s public works department completed the required sample testing on the water late Wednesday night.
Pearland officials discovered a malfunction at its water production facility at 3100 Kirby around 6 p.m. Wednesday: The water pressure had fallen below what’s required by state and federal law. “Any time the water drops below a certain pressure level, there is the potential for contamination,” Anderson said.
By 7:42 p.m., a notice went out informing residents that they needed to boil water before drinking it, using it to brush their teeth, or washing their face and hands. Anderson made clear that the boil-water notice was not meant to indicate that bacteria was present but possible.
Treatment plants fail
During the investigation, Anderson said, officials discovered that the root of the malfunction originated at Pearland’s other water treatment facility, on FM 521. Officials said they believe equipment there malfunctioned some time late Wednesday afternoon — but that the system’s alarm had failed to notify public works officials about the problem.
For multiple hours, the problem went undetected, and the treatment facility on Kirby was left to compensate for all of Pearland’s water for longer than it’s supposed to in a situation like this, Anderson said.
By 6 p.m., the Kirby treatment plant went down, too. That’s when public works officials finally discovered the issue.
Anderson said it was unclear exactly how long the water pressure was lower than state and federal requirements and that this was part of the investigation — as well as why the FM 521 treatment facility’s fail-safe alarm failed.
“The safety of our water is paramount to us, and we will do a full investigation at the completion of this incident to make sure we put in additional measures to prevent this from happening again,” Anderson said.
In the meantime, Pearland businesses and residents struggled with the inconvenience of not having clean running water.
Eric Westerlage, a manager at BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, said his restaurant stopped running its soda equipment, which is connected to the city water system, and had outsourced for bottled water.
“It’s a much slower day than we’re used to,” Westerlage said. “We have a boil water procedure that we follow and that’s what we’re doing. Honestly, the whole boil water (advisory) has affected this whole side of town. There’s not a whole lot of people out and about right now.”
Boiling necessary
Crystal Charles, an assistant manager at Josephine’s Day Spa and Salon, said that some of their clients were doused with water from a spray bottle, in lieu of clean tap water. The owner of the spa told Charles to close early, losing at least a half-day’s worth of business.
“We did have to call (our clients) and inform them what was going on and to reschedule them, due to the fact that we don’t want them to come in and be using this type of water on their head,” Charles said Thursday. “We’re gonna hope for the best and try tomorrow.”
Pearland resident Daniell Davis was forced to shuttle her three children — ages 18, 13 and 2 — to her mother-in-law’s house in Stafford so they could shower and brush their teeth with clean water. Since dishwasher temperatures were not hot enough to kill potential bacteria, she was in the process of washing all of her dishes by hand.
“Right now I’m about to boil water and try to wash some dishes — probably will take dishwashing three times as long,” Davis said.
Davis was hopeful that the advisory would be lifted on Friday, in time for her kids to enjoy their weekend without having to travel elsewhere for clean water.
“That would definitely be an inconvenience for me. This inconvenience isn’t so terrible.”