Thursday, January 13, 2022

KLST Revisits Toxic Chemicals in City Water


KLST's
"Our Water" segment revisited toxic chemicals entering the City of San Angelo's water supply.  The piece is titled "One year after the San Angelo water crisis."  It's actually been eleven months.  Reporter Kayla Brown interviewed Water Chief Allison Strube and the head of water treatment Tymn Combest.  

Not mentioned was the report done by Texas Commission for Environmental Quality which hammered the city for not meeting basic water operations standards.  The city basically did not have the required cross connection control program.

One might expect a news source to reference the TCEQ report on citizens receiving toxic chemical tainted water.  The TCEQ report is important as the city does not do internal investigations.

After not having the required program for many years City Council ignored recommendations on the number of inspectors needed to create and operate a functional cross connection program.  Council approved three positions of the recommended five.  

"They are going to do nothing but city inspections on customer service inspections. That means, those individuals will be making sure that backflow devices are installed at the proper location, that those devices are being tested annually, and that we have eyes on these facilities all across town so we are better protected and learning from our lessons from last February.”

TCEQ can fine the city if it is recalcitrant in fixing the identified problems, which should not have existed in the first place.  Citizens learned our water could be made toxic with no warning. 

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