Kempner Water Supply Corporation has issued a system-wide boil water notice to all of its customers due to water contamination, repairs to damaged pipes, and repeated boil water notices, for which there is no estimated date yet for lifting.
According to the KWSC website, this latest advisory is due to difficulties in complying with chlorine residue requirements.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requested that KWSC advise all customers to boil their water before consumption (e.g., washing hands/face, brushing teeth, drinking, etc.) until further notice.
Children, seniors and people with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable to harmful bacteria.
In a phone call with KWSC, General Manager Bruce Sorenson explained that the lakes from which KWSC draws its water are heavily contaminated due to flooding this spring. This includes both natural substances and human waste and garbage, anything that the floods washed away during and after the downpours.
The company’s job is to filter out everything: sediments as well as chemicals and minerals.
According to Sorenson, whatever was at the bottom of the lakes was stirred up when the colder water from the storms met the warmer standing water.
He explained that there are many stages of filtration to make the water safe for human consumption and that some of the particles are so small that the water needs to be micro-filtered. This, and the switch to a free chlorine filtration system, are just some of the reasons why the current boil water advisory is in place.
“And it will remain in effect for at least two more weeks,” Sorenson said. “The color comes from the manganese in the water and the smell comes from the nitrogen. Nitrification is a microbial process that oxidizes reduced nitrogen compounds like ammonia to nitrite and nitrate.”
He also said that it is a nationwide problem and occurs throughout Texas.
Sorenson says the current boil water order will remain in effect for at least the next two weeks, after which he will follow the TCEQ’s requirements.
Instead of boiling water, KWSC allows customers to purchase bottled water or obtain water from another suitable source for drinking water or human consumption.
