HOUSTON — Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner revealed more about the boil water notice issued by the city that's affected more than two million customers.
Turner stated that the notice does not affect residents in the Kingwood area or those who get their water from the Clear Lake Water Authority. He also stated that it could be lifted as soon as 3 a.m. Tuesday.
The boil water notice was issued by Houston Public Works on Sunday after the East Water Purification Plant near Galena Park lost power at three plants.
After hours of consulting with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the notice was issued just after 6:30 p.m. Officials said they were concerned enough triggers had been tripped to require notice.
"Certainly apologize for the disruptions, kids having to miss school, businesses impacted, even some elective surgeries having to be postponed," Turner said. "Our hope is by late tonight or early tomorrow morning, we'll get a positive response from TCEQ and that the boil water notice can be lifted."
Turner said the main problem was the failure of two transformers at the plant, which included the backup. That's what led to water pressures dipping below regulatory levels.
The mayor confirmed that there were no signs of a chemical or contaminant intrusion in the water. He also said that he's ordered a full diagnostic review to ensure it doesn't happen again.
Turner said for the boil water notice to be lifted, the city had to submit its testing plan, which has been approved. Water samples were taken from 30 different sites and will now sit for 18 hours to see if bacteria grow.
Residents are encouraged to register for Alert Houston to receive push notifications to their mobile devices for updates and when situations like this happen.
Timeline of events provided by Turner:
- 10:30 a.m. -- Plants 1 and 2 lost power at the East purification plant
- 10:50 a.m. -- Plant 3 loses power
- Before 11 a.m. -- Water pressure at 21 monitoring sites dip
- 11 a.m. -- 16 of the 21 sites have water pressure dip below the emergency regulatory level of 20 PSI. Electricians arrive to troubleshoot the problem.
- 11:02 a.m. -- 14 of the 16 sites see water pressure rebound
- 11:30 a.m. -- Remaining two locations see pressure rise above 20 PSI
- 12:15 p.m. -- Power restored at Plants 1 and 2
- 12:30 p.m. -- Power restored at Plant 3
- 2:43 p.m. -- Officials begin discussing if a boil water notice is necessary
- 3:30 p.m. -- Full water pressure restored at all locations citywide
- 6:40 p.m. -- Officials decide to issue notice out of an abundance of caution
- 10:41 p.m. -- TCEQ approves City's plan to test water