CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) - A South Texas city dealing with a boil water order for nearly a week plans to change the disinfectant in the system in hopes of soon lifting the advisory.
In a statement Wednesday, city officials say they will begin using an aggressive free chlorine to disinfect the water. However, residents would still need to boil their drinking water until The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality concludes the water supply is safe.
The city issued the boil water order Friday night after nitrogen-rich runoff from rain flowed into the water system, resulting in low chlorine disinfectant levels in the water supply.
City Manager Ron Olson resigned Tuesday, saying he should be held accountable for the problems affecting supply to more than 300,000 people.
Samples tested by the city are adequate to lift the boil advisory, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times (https://bit.ly/1Xzy3gJ ) reported. But supplemental samples taken by the TCEQ from locations that weren’t previously tested “caused (the state) to question the stability of the water system,” according to a news release.
The order requires water for drinking, cooking and making ice to be boiled.
Heavy rain and street flooding this week in Corpus Christi added to the problems by complicating the water sampling process.
Officials say no E.coli has been detected.
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