In Texas, the city of Austin’s water utility has issued a citywide boil water notice as it struggles with the impact of debris from flooding on its water treatment capabilities.
"The high level of debris, silt and mud requires extended filtration that slows the process of getting treated water into the system," Austin Water said in a press release.
The city is telling residents to reduce water use overall and to boil any tap water intended for consumption for at least 3 minutes in order to kill any bacteria that may be in it.
"This isn’t a conclusion we came to lightly," says Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk.
"Unfortunately, this is simply a case of Mother Nature throwing more at the system than the system can currently process."
All three of Austin Water’s drinking-water plants are currently running at 1/3 to 1/4 of the capacity they would normally run.
"It’s been a real struggle," Meszaros says.
Austin Water will lift the boil water notice once they are able to stabilize the treatment systems.
We’ll just have to take this day by day and hour by hour to see [how] our plants perform," Meszaros says.
Austin Independent School District is encouraging students to bring water bottles with them.