ARANSAS PASS, Texas — The water crisis in Aransas Pass is over according to City Manager Gary Edwards; after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality released test results showing the water samples have come back negative for contamination.
The city says tap water in the community meets the regulatory standards and is safe for human consumption. That word coming down from the TCEQ around 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
According to the Aransas Pass Police Department, water distribution sites will be closed. In a Facebook post Sunday morning, the department said all sealed pallets of water will be given to various Coastal Bend emergency operation centers to prepare for hurricane season and future disasters. They added that once the open pallets are gone the distribution service will stop.
It was on Friday, June 25th when the TCEQ issued the water use ban for the City of Aransas Pass and it's public water system. During an emergency city council meeting later that night it was discovered that a section of the water system did not have a backflow preventer installed and chemicals were potentially introduced into the water system. That turned out not to be the case and TCEQ has since provided results from a laboratory in Savannah, Georgia showing the water is safe to use.
Friday night crews went all over the city to collect water samples to send to the lab in Georgia. Governor Greg Abbott offered the use of an airplane to transport the samples to that lab. They arrived to the facility by 1:30 p.m. Central on Saturday. Test results came back negative for contamination on Sunday.
Anyone with questions is encouraged to call the City of Aransas Pass Public Works Department at 361-758-3111.
REWATCH: Emergency Meeting hosted at 7:30 p.m.
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