Certain Richardson residents are now under a boil water notice after a water tower lost all water pressure Nov. 6, according to a city news release.
The boil water notice affects around 17,000 customers within the city’s 767 water pressure zone, who are between US 75 and Coit Road in the east and west and West Spring Valley Road and Arapaho Road to the north and south, per the news release.
Because of the notice, Richardson ISD closed five campuses Nov. 7, according to a news release. RISD officials are expected to make a decision Thursday about school closures Nov. 8.
What you need to know
Levels in the water tower dropped after telemetry equipment in the Holly Water Tower, located between Mimosa Drive and Dogwood Drive, malfunctioned and city staff failed to catch the issue, according to the news release. Because of the drop in water pressure, the city was required to issue a boil water notice by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
The city will provide bottled water to impacted customers in the parking lot of the Heights Recreation Center, located at 711 W. Arapaho Road. The water distribution will be open between 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Nov. 7-8, or until the boil water notice is lifted.
“We wanted to make this as easy as possible on residents,” City Manager Don Magner said.
City officials expect to have test results on collected water samples, which were sent to the North Texas Municipal Water District, on Friday, per the news release.
Water that will be used for consumption or other activities, such as brushing teeth, should be brought to a rolling boil, which is then maintained for around two minutes.
Diving deeper
The city has distributed more than 1,000 cases of water since the initial boil notice declaration, Magner said at a news conference Nov. 7. City officials have been working with Sam’s Club and other local nonprofit organizations to source cases of bottled water, Magner added.
To ensure an adequate supply of bottled water, city officials announced they were procuring around another 1,000 cases to distribute to residents.
Magner said this is the first time the city has experienced this kind of equipment failure.
What else?
Once service is restored, Magner said city staff will work with the equipment manufacturer to understand why the failure occurred and why city staff failed to identify the problem.
“There'll be a full after action after action process we go through, because, you know, there is redundancy in this system,” Magner said. “Unfortunately, both pieces of the redundancy failed at the same time.”
For more information about the boil water notice, visit the city’s website.
