1.77 Million Texans Still Without Drinkable Water After Winter Storm

Texas officials report that 1.77 million residents remain without drinkable water following the winter storm that devastated the Lone Star State last week. At the peak, more than half the state’s population (14.8 million) had no water or were under boil notices.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) monitors water districts and the availability of drinkable water across the state. Spokesman Gary Rasp told Breibart Texas on Wednesday that 1.77 million Texans are under a boil water notice or have no water whatsoever. Of the 1.77 million, approximately 23,000 fall into the no water category.

“TCEQ is doing everything we can to support water systems as they recover from this weather event,” said TCEQ Executive Director Toby Baker. “We understand that it’s tough to be without water, or to have to boil it before consuming it, because we’re experiencing it firsthand alongside so many Texans.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, 967 of the state’s approximately 7,000 water systems are currently under the boil water notices issued to their customers, Rasp explained. He said some of these public water systems are very small — as few as 15 customers — while others impact entire cities.

A report issued by TCEQ on February 24 lists all of the water districts under boil water notices at the time of the publication. It includes cities like Kileen where 147,630 people are under a boil water notice that began a week ago. Other cities include Galveston (50,180), Texas City (48,558), and Big Spring (30,982).

Before a boil water notice can be rescinded the following must take place, according to TCEQ:

• Determine that water in their system does not pose an acute health risk
• Disinfect affected areas or the entire distribution system
• Collect bacteriological samples and obtain negative coliform results
• Return to normal operating parameters, including power restoration, required water pressure levels, minimum disinfectant residual levels, no excessive turbidity

In San Antonio, members of the Texas National Guard assisted the San Antonio Food Bank with distributing water to residents of Bexar County.

Elsewhere airmen from Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida tweeted the news of 784 warehouse pallets of bottled water were airlifted to ten locations in Texas.

Soldiers and airmen of the National Guard helped deliver more than 40,000 cases of water.

Texas Air National Guard Captain Dave Ruthenbeck with the 181st Airlift Squadron suffered through a 35-hour power outage. Once his power was restored to his family, he went to work delivering water to his fellow Texans.

“Now that I’ve got my power back, I want to help others not as fortunate,” Ruthenbeck said on NationalGuard.mil. “We’ve got about 35,000 pounds of water loaded here and are headed to Austin. We’ve been flying water since Thursday (Feb. 18) and will continue until it’s all delivered.”

While electricity has returned to all but about 8,000 customers, drinkable water remains a concern for 1.77 million Texans.