Water Back On In Ferris As State Investigates 3rd Interruption In Service In 3 Months
FERRIS, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - After more than three days, the water is back on in the city of Ferris, as the Texas Commission On Environmental Quality investigates the third interruption in the water supply in as many months.
The lack of water forced Ferris ISD to close for two days.
The city of Ferris says it will take at least a couple of days for the water tanks and towers to fill back up.
The water is back on, but not before residents' frustrations boiled over.
Meredith Wilkinson said, "I'm ready for the kids to go back to school. I'm ready to go back to work. I work in a daycare, and we've had to be closed for no water too."
Her son Brennan said, "I look forward to my education cause I want to provide for my family. It is very annoying and frustrating."
Carolyn Hollywood said, "You can't even cook. You want to get up and take a shower. You don't have water to take a shower. You can't flush the commode when you use it."
Since Saturday, the city handed out bottled water to residents because the tap water is still not safe to drink.
A boil water advisory remains in effect.
The city said its water tanks were drained after someone opened this fire hydrant late Friday night, and the city didn't become aware until 7:00 a.m. Saturday.
Making matters worse and delaying a fix, was the fact that McDonald Elementary School's sprinkler system had a busted line, a problem discovered Tuesday morning.
Mayor Pro Tem Tommy Scott said he's gotten an earful from residents. "I can't do this, I can't do that. They come home from work, they've got kids, school shuts down, yeah they are angry. So someone has to stand up and take that tongue lashing and that would be me."
It's the third time in as many months there's been an interruption of the city's water supply.
The first time was a training issue, the second a mechanical one.
The Mayor Pro Tem said city employees did not cause this. "If they say they didn't open it up or leave it open then it's got to be sabotage."
Resident Antonio Burris said, "I think if someone's doing that they need to be punished."
Anyone caught causing the interruption of a public water supply faces a criminal mischief charge, a class A misdemeanor.
The city's Community Development Director said he'll recommend schools reopen Wednesday.
A TCEQ spokesman Brian McGovern said late Tuesday the city's water distribution pressure is now in compliance with state regulations.
McGovern said it referred the city of Ferris for formal enforcement based on findings from an August investigation, and that one of the violations is for failure to provide a minimum production capacity of 0.6 gallons per minute per connection.
