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Flint Water Crisis Spurs Questions About Texas Water

With the crisis of contaminated water in Flint, Michigan, Texans are asking about the safety of their own cities' water supplies.

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Water pours into a holding pond inside Rio Grande City’s new $12 million water treatment plant. Along the Texas-Mexico border, nearly 90,000 people are believed to still live without running water. An untold number more — likely tens of thousands, but no one is sure — often have running water of such poor quality that they cannot know what poisons or diseases it might carry.
Water pours into a holding pond inside Rio Grande City’s new $12 million water treatment plant. Along the Texas-Mexico border, nearly 90,000 people are believed to still live without running water. An untold number more — likely tens of thousands, but no one is sure — often have running water of such poor quality that they cannot know what poisons or diseases it might carry. Credit: Spencer Selvidge for The Texas Tribune

With the crisis of contaminated water in Flint, Michigan, Texans are asking about the safety of their own cities' water supplies. The Texas Department of State Health Services says that most cases involving lead contamination in the state don't result from residential drinking water supplies. Dallas water supplies are safe, according to environmental officials and water utilities there; while the San Antonio Water System says that its customers are safe because its water pipes are not made of lead, but are PVC and galvanized. (Texas Public Radio and The Dallas Morning News)

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