International

Anger as Houston Boil Water Notice Announced Late at Night on Social Media

Published

2 years ago

Nov 29, 2022.

Eko Hot Blog reports that anger is growing among Houston citizens after the entire city was placed under a boil water notice on Sunday evening, with many complaining about learning of the issue from Twitter.

EDITOR’S PICKS

“The entire city of Houston is on a boil water notice. I’m reading that the people of Houston have not been notified by their local government. THEY’RE LITERALLY LEARNING THIS ON TWITTER,” wrote a Twitter user on Monday.

A boil water notice means consumers must boil their tap water before they drink it, use it to brush their teeth, make ice cubes, prepare food, clean feeding equipment or give it to their pets, according to water consumer body CCW.

“The city of Houston has everyone’s email address that has a water bill. We all pay it online. It’s beyond Unacceptable that we don’t have an email from them saying there’s a boil notice,” wrote another Twitter user.

According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, a power outage at the East Water Purification Plant in Houston at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday led the water pressure to drop below the city’s required minimum levels for safety.

Six hours after the initial outage, the city issued the boil water notice to the 2.2 million customers of Houston Public Works.

A boil water notice has been issued for the City of Houston ‼️ Everyone should boil the water before drinking, cooking, bathing, and brushing their teeth.

More Information Belowhttps://t.co/O5uo7deQBI pic.twitter.com/1Pozmv0imS

— City of Houston (@HoustonTX) November 28, 2022

Many are now complaining about the delayed response from city authorities, saying they had been drinking water for hours before finding out about the boil notice.

“How and why in the hell did Houston officials wait until around 8 p.m. to tell citizens that there was a power outage at a water plant in the morning,” tweeted journalist Jose de Jesus Ortiz.

“The City of Houston waited til damn near 10 pm to tell us we been on a boil water notice.. I been cooking and cleaning all day.. I done already poisoned myself,” wrote another Twitter user. Others complained about learning of the notice while they were drinking water.

The public is now being advised to boil all water used for food, drinking and brushing teeth for at least two to three minutes, and to avoid using chilled water lines from fridges. Ice from automated ice machines should also be avoided. Those who cannot boil water are advised to use bottled water instead.

But Houston Water Director Yvonne Williams Forrest said that the boil water notice was issued out of caution and to comply with regulatory standards rather than due to a real risk of contamination.