The City of Houston has lifted the boil water advisory that was issued on Sunday.
More than 2 million people in the Houston area were urged to boil their tap water after a power outage at a purification plant prompted the mayor to initiate a review of what went wrong.
The notice was issued on Sunday after two transformers failed, causing power outages at the water plant, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a press conference Monday. There was no indication the water system had been contaminated, he said.
Multiple Houston-area public and private schools, as well as some local colleges, were closed Monday as a result of the notice. Others made adjustments to provide affected campuses with bottled water and sanitizer.
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Houston Public Works announced on Tuesday morning that water quality tests submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality confirmed that tap water is safe to drink and meets all regulatory standards.
According to Houston Public Works, residents no longer need to boil water before drinking, cooking, and making ice.
Customers must now drain and clean their water system, Houston Public Works said. This involves running cold water faucets for at least one minute, cleaning automatic ice machines, and making and disposing of multiple batches of ice to activate water treatment softeners through a regeneration cycle.
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Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner defended the decision to warn Houston residents about the water quality hours after the issue first occurred.
Turner said the drop in pressure did not automatically trigger a water boil notice, but a decision was made to issue one after the city consulted with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
The city will also review how residents were informed of the notice to boil water, Turner said.
Water infrastructure and quality has been a prominent issue in cities large and small throughout the U.S., including Baltimore; Honolulu; Jackson, Mississippi; and Flint, Michigan.
