Public Works Director Joseph Peart said some residents on Dec. 31 reported brown water coming out of their taps. The issue was found to be coming from Water Plant No. 3, where Peart said his team is 99% certain the discolored water came from a chlorine bypass line that was left open following repairs.
“Long story short, what it allowed was hyperchlorination to get down into the well shaft, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” he said. “When you clean a well shaft, that’s part of the process—you hyperchlorinate ... It cleaned our well shaft ... it’s not harmful [but] it may create an off-taste.”
Peart said he coordinated with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which said there was no danger to residents and no need to issue a boil water notice.
“I think we all mentioned it but again, just a big thanks to the public works staff for the way that they handled the water incident, coming out and taking care of it,” said Council Member Ted Fletcher. “I know that businesses were happy, residents were happy with the end result. We probably don’t give them enough thanks for all they do but at the end of the day the city wouldn’t have water or safe roads [without them].”
The council also saw three potential design options for new city monuments to be placed on the northbound and southbound I-45 feeders.
Each design features a 20-foot-tall tower. Members of the council leaned toward Option No. 3 as the preferred design.
“In terms of overall look, I’m leaning towards this,” Council Member Michael McLeod said regarding the third option. “Definitely want to use more verticals, big letters ... maybe we start thinking about the fact that we were incorporated in 1974, we’ve got our 50th coming up ... that’s something I’m tossing out there.”
The signs are being designed by LANDology and must be approved by the Texas Department of Transportation before being implemented.
The City Council’s next meeting will be held on Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.
