By Gaige Davila
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
A boil notice is still in effect for the Laguna Madre area, issued by the Laguna Madre Water District.
Any water used for drinking, cooking and ice making but be boiled for two minutes. The boil notice will last 7 days, issued on Wednesday, Feb. 17. LMWD will send water samples on Monday, Feb. 22, to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and returned in 24 hours, according to a press release.
Early Friday, Feb. 19, the main line broke, causing a water outage after LMWD had just stabilized water pressure.
When power was shut off by AEP Texas on Monday, as issued by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the main control panel power surge protector and module communications instruments were burned on Water Plant 2. Water production was stopped as staff worked to repair the damage. Water pressure was reduced to 0 by the end of the day.
Line breaks caused by freezing pipes occurred throughout the Laguna Madre area. LMWD has addressed these breaks and is now operating at near-normal water levels, churning out and treating nearly 6 million gallons daily.
Three out of four modules have been repaired on the water plants. One more module repair is needed for LMWD to operate at 100 percent capacity, Galvan told the PRESS. The parts to fix the module were shipped overnight on Feb. 17, with repair expected by today, Friday, Feb. 19, at the latest. The plant is currently operating at 60 percent capacity, according to a press release.
In a press release from Feb. 17, LMWD stated that it will be buying new communications equipment and keep more spare parts for similar emergencies, along with meetings between staff and management to “brainstorm on how to protect the district from future issues.”
LMWD will announce when the boil notice is terminated.
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