Corpus Christi Mayor Nelda Martines with (from left) deputy city manager Margie Rose, assistant city manager Mark Van Vleck and council member Michael Hunter at a press conference in city hall Thursday, May 19, 2016. Courtesy photo
A special city council meeting to discuss the current water problems plaguing the city has been set for 11:30 a.m. Monday, May 24, in city hall chambers. The meeting was requested by newly appointed city council member at-large Michael Hunter. City staffers and representatives from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will at the meeting to answer questions.
“People in Corpus Christi don’t deserve this,” Hunter told Corpus Christi Business News. “I think a lot of people have questions. People want to be informed and we [the city council members] need to be as informed as everybody.”
At 2 p.m. Thursday, May 19, city officials held the first of what will become daily press conferences at city hall until the boil water notice is lifted. Mayor Nelda Martinez told reporters TCEQ agreed late Wednesday to the city’s request to begin a new chlorination process. At noon on Thursday, the first of a strong chlorine disinfectant was flushed through the system in a process similar to “shocking” a pool.
TCEQ put the city on a boil water notice after finding bacteria (NOT E.coli, city officials stressed), in at least three different locations.
Also on Thursday, the city entered day seven of a boil water notice, which is when Hunter called for the meeting. Hunter, who said he has spent the last two days in city hall working on the issue, encouraged anyone with questions about what is going on to come to the daily 2 p.m. press conferences in city hall and to the special meeting May 24.
“We are trying to get to the bottom of this,” Hunter said. “We want to know what the short term issues are other than flushing chlorine through the system, and the long term solutions. I believe everybody would like to know that we are heading in the right direction.”
Those living in the northwest part of Corpus Christi and in Calallen and Annaville should be the first to see effects of the new chlorination process, said deputy city manager Margie Rose at the press conference.
“You should begin seeing changes this afternoon,” she said after announcing that the flushing began about two hours earlier. “Residents could experience discolored water. It could also change in taste or smell.”
She asked residents to turn on their taps for five minutes to flush their home systems. If the water remains discolored after that, she suggested they call the city’s customer service line at 361-826-2489.
Rose ended the meeting by announcing that officially the boil water notice is still in effect.
