Houston water and sewer officials are urging residents with private water wells in part of the city's western outskirts to boil their drinking and bathing water for at least one minute.
That's after a 42-inch sanitary sewer pipe spilled more than 300,000 gallons of domestic wastewater.
A Houston Public Works statement says the south bank of Buffalo Bayou just east of Gessner Road collapsed Thursday morning as an aftereffect of Harvey-related flooding. Repairs are being complicated by difficult access to the leak and ground left unstable by erosion left by the flooding.
The spill affects at least 300 feet downstream from the leak. City officials advise persons using private drinking-water wells in the affected area to have their well water tested and disinfected, if necessary, before ceasing boiling or distillation.
