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A drop in water pressure at one of its purification facilities on Sunday prompted the City of Houston to issue a boil water notice, per reports from Houston-based media outlets.
Citing city officials, Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported that a few different areas at the East Water Purification Plant lost power earlier in the morning, with water restored some time after the outage.
KTRK reported that the notice impacted more than two million people, essentially the city’s entire population.
“Everyone should boil the water before drinking, cooking, bathing and brushing their teeth,” the city advised residents in a tweet.
The city, which spent much of Sunday keeping tabs on the water pressure, said the notice could be lifted on Tuesday, according to KTRK.
Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported that the city will notify residents as to when they can consume the water without boiling it.
Affected areas included the whole city proper, as well as Law Street in the suburb of West University Place near the Texas Medical Center (TMC), KHOU reported.
According to KHOU, the city had assured those who drank or used water before the notice that they’re at risk for illness.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a statement obtained by KHOU that the city is required to issue a boil notice “when pressure drops below 20 pounds per square inch (PSI),” adding he and other officials have touched base with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
“Water samples will subsequently follow and hopefully we will get the all clear from TCEQ,” Turner said in the statement. “The city has to wait 24 hours from that point before the boil water notice is suspended. The earliest would be [Monday] night or very early Tuesday morning.”
KTRK reported that Gov. Greg Abbott directed the TCEQ and the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to provide the state’s largest city with the necessary resources to help it navigate through the situation.