Corpus Christi residents line up outside Sam’s Club on South Padre Island Drive Dec. 15, waiting for a shipment of bottled water to arrive. Stores quickly sold out after the city issued a no-use ban on tap water that lasted four days. Photo by Roland Chiapoco
The fourth water crisis in Corpus Christi in 18 months has brought state and federal attention to the problem, which is now being investigated by the Texas Attorney General’s office.
Corpus Christi residents turned on their taps again Sunday, Dec. 18 after four days under a no-use water ban just before the Christmas holidays. Notices to stop using city water were issued city-wide late Wednesday evening, Dec. 14. The ban was lifted gradually and partially by zone over the next four days.
Twice in 2015 and once in May 2016, the city was put on a boil water notice, caused when tests showed low chlorine levels in certain neighborhoods. Continued rains sent nitrogen rich run-off into the city’s underground pipes. The nitrogen diluted chlorine disinfectant in the pipes, causing bacteria to thrive and show up in water quality tests.
The most recent ban, in December 2016, occurred when an asphalt emulsifier called Indulin AA-86 made it past a back-flow preventer that may have malfunctioned in the industrial area of the city. The contaminant, which washed into the system from the Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions plant on Up River Road, was detected in the water system that supplies the industrial district. The question was, did it make it into residential areas?
CITY RESPONSE
A new city council had no sooner taken their oaths of office when news that a chemical spill may have made its way into the city’s water system hit the headlines. A populous frustrated by the previous boil notices and pot-hole riddled streets vote four new council members and a new mayor into office Nov. 8. Now, chemicals used to fix cracks in paved roads may have found its way into residents’ homes via their water pipes.
The city called in the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which soon involved the Environmental Protection Agency. The two agencies had to first determine what chemical was spilled and where it went.
Along with compiling data from tested water samples, TCEQ also installed a back-flow preventer at the asphalt plant. The AG investigation will be asked to determine whether the plumbing at Ergon Asphalt and Emulsions was adequate to begin with. There has been confusion among all parties involved as to whether there was a back-flow preventer, and if so, whether it malfunctioned.
The asphalt company confirmed in a public news release that a back-flow issue had occurred at a tank it operates.
“A soap solution, which is comprised of approximately 98 percent water and 2 percent Indulin AA-86 and hydrochloric acid, back flowed into the separate water line within the Valero terminal,” read the statement.
TCEQ also had the city flush three water tanks twice each to clear out any contaminants that might have made its way into the system, though 115 tests showed no contamination. The flushing was necessary to clean tank walls, a spokesman said. Each tank holds about 1 million gallons of water.
While all that work went on behind the scenes, the city held continual press briefings and made public announcements, releasing parts of the city from the no-use ban as information became available. The city also set up five locations to hand out free bottled water to residents, who lined up in cars to receive one case per vehicle throughout the four days of the crisis. More than 100,000 cases of bottled water were donated to the city.
Newly elected Mayor Dan McQueen became the public face of the crisis as he gave several updates a day. He announced that Flour Bluff, Padre Island and Calallen had been cleared to use their water on Day 2. Those areas were put into Zone 1 and deemed OK for consumption.
Zone 2, encompassing neighborhoods south of South Padre Island Drive, followed the next day with a partial lifting of the ban. Southside residents were told they could use water for bathing and cleaning, but not drinking.
Zone 3, the central part of the city, remained under a no-use ban until it was lifted city-wide Sunday morning, Dec. 18. That part of the city’s water system directly connects to the industrial area.
Testing in that area will continue, according to the TCEQ, as the investigation is ongoing. Anyone concerned about drinking water quality in the city should call TCEQ at 888-777-3186.
