McAllen Water Staff Looking for Tainted Water Source

Mayor Brenda Gunter and city staff gave a press event this afternoon on San Angelo's water crisis as  the community prepares for a Winter Storm and days of record cold.  Water Utilities Director Alison Strube said test results from the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) had not come in, despite the samples being taken days ago.

Strube was asked a question about the source of the contamination.  She said it had not been identified but City of McAllen water staff have been visiting industrial water users in the PaulAnn area to determine the culprit.  

The State of Texas Department of Emergency Management reached out to McAllen for technical and professional assistance on San Angelo's behalf.  I wondered what distinctive competency McAllen had that our water staff did not.  

The City of San Angelo's woes arose from frequent staff turnover in the City Engineer position and the need to spend millions on outside engineering firms.  Add the City's decades of "we'll fix it when it breaks" maintenance mentality and one wonders what preventive surveillance our Water Department does to ensure industrial chemicals do not enter the potable water supply?

City Council should ask about McAllen's distinctive competency and ensure our Water Department has the same.  They should also ask why TCEQ took so long to get back test results that would help a community navigate out of a crisis?

Update 2-22-21:  The city has not released information on what the McAllen team found, i.e. how many industrial water users had failed back flow preventers and how long had it been since the City of San Angelo last inspected that business.

Update 2-25-21:  City Council will take up the water contamination issue in executive session in next week's meeting. 

Update 2-26-21:  City Manager Daniel Valenzuela updated citizens via video on the search for the toxic chemical source.