Houston Residents Can Now Safely Drink Tap Water

The boil water warning that a lot of Houston residents received Monday caused great panic across the city. Huge lines of people buying water, suspension of classes in some areas, and general uncertainty was caused after the City recommended in a news release  that “customers should flush their water system by running cold-water faucets for at least one minute, cleaning automatic ice makers by making and discarding several batches of ice, and running water softeners through a regeneration cycle.” Around 2.2 million residents were inside this boiling water alert area.

Houston residents are safe to use and drink tap water again after the city lifted its boil-water notice early Tuesday morning for all customers. But, what happened?

According to the Texas Tribune, on Sunday morning two transformers at Houston’s East Water Purification Plant went offline. This caused the water stored at the plant to lose pressure and low pressure means that contaminants can enter drinking water. City officials have said there is no evidence of contamination and that the boil-water notice was issued as a precautionary measure. This Tuesday the authorities confirmed that there were no contaminants in the exposed water and issued that it is completely safe to drink tap water.