Tropical Storm Harvey Yields Source Water Contamination Concerns

As Houston responds to the destruction wrought by Tropical Storm Harvey, state and federal environmental officials are putting an emphasis on protecting source waters from contamination.

“The U.S. EPA is investigating reports of spills and developing a plan to test floodwater for contaminants, according to David Gray, the acting deputy administrator for the EPA’s south central region. When floodwaters recede ... project managers will assess each Superfund site in the hurricane-affected area for damage,” Bloomberg BNA reported.

“The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality told Bloomberg BNA the agency would start removing debris once floodwaters recede,” the report said.

Houston officials have worked to assure residents that it is safe to drink from faucets. The Houston Office of Emergency Management (OEM) responded on Twitter to a "rumor" that water would be shut off. "Water is currently safe to drink and meeting 100 percent of need," OEM tweeted.

Mayor Sylvester Turner reiterated that message on Wednesday: “Public Works teamwork avoided breakdown of water plant. Failure would've required order to boil water before drinking. City water is safe!”

Nevertheless, environmental water contamination remains a major concern. Contaminated floodwater also poses a public health threat.

“In the coming weeks and even months, residents of Houston and other parts of southern Texas hit hard by Hurricane Harvey will be faced with the public health disasters that can result from dirty floodwater and landslides. The natural disaster has ostensibly turned the city into a sprawling, pathogen-infested swamp,” Newsweek reported.

Contact with floodwater puts residents at risk of bacterial infections, diseases, and viruses, the report said.

Outside of Houston, drinking water contamination is a major concern for communities hard hit by Harvey.

“Utility-owned facilities that remove contaminants from drinking water may be unusable if they’re inundated with floodwaters, according to Kevin Morley, a federal relations manager with the American Water Works Association who specializes in emergency preparedness. But even if these facilities aren’t inundated, Morley told Bloomberg BNA, they may not have the power needed to run their pumps or an ability to get fuel for their generators,” Bloomberg BNA reported.

“This is especially a concern for small utilities that serve communities in sparsely populated rural areas because these utilities may not have the same level of redundancy in their backup power supplies as their big city counterparts,” the report said.

For similar stories visit Water Online’s Source Water Contamination Solutions Center.