City of Houston facing issues with drinking water at Humble water purification plant

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The City of Houston released a notice about an issue with drinking water at its northeast water purification plant in Humble.

ABC13 spoke with water resource expert Wayne Klotz. He said the water is safe to drink, but said the problem was clarity in the water, called turbidity, which he said might make the water appear murky or cloudy.

The city's notice said it happened in May.

"What it tells me is that they had a short-term piece of equipment that didn't function as it was supposed to. As soon as they realized that, they fixed it," Klotz said.

Klotz said turbidity excursion -- what the city said they found in the drinking water -- should not be harmful.

"When we treat wastewater to drinkable water standards, the two main things we do is we have to remove the turbidity so it's crystal clear like you want at home," Klotz said.

Klotz said to his knowledge, this was all discovered because the city missed a test of the water, as required by the state.

"If they miss two periods, they are required to notify the people who are buying the water that there was an excursion from those particular requirements. However, because it was only dealing with turbidity, there should be no risk to anyone," Klotz said.

But ABC13 wanted to know how big of a problem this actually is for you, so we asked, 'Is the water safe to drink?'

"The water was safe, it is safe, and continues to be safe, and I would drink it if it was in my house," Klotz said.

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