Texas’ Grand Prairie Independent School District (ISD) announced the closure of schools after the city found that their water supply was toxic, CBS News reported Wednesday.
Ron Jensen, Grand Prairie’s mayor, said that a “foaming agent” firefighters employed made its way into the water supply and caused the toxicity, the outlet reported.
Jensen relayed that “a huge fire was fought Tuesday night” firefighters put out and that the foaming agent entered the water supply via a backflow event, CBS News reported. “It was an incident that we will learn from and move forward,” the mayor said. The city received reports of the foamy water, which resulted in them testing the system, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Families deal with “do not use” water order in Grand Prairiehttps://t.co/jhcnaFfOxe
— CBS News Texas (@CBSNewsTexas) September 5, 2024
The water system was made “slightly toxic, but nothing to be alarmed” about, the mayor added. Officials closed down schools Wednesday “[o]ut of an abundance of caution,” the ISD tweeted.
Out of an abundance of caution, GPISD will be closed Wednesday, September 4, 2024, due to the ongoing water issue in the city. All morning extracurricular activities are cancelled as well. We will resume our regular schedule on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/RmZStkOCh4
— Grand Prairie ISD (@grandprairieisd) September 4, 2024
The schools remained closed as of Thursday, according to CBS News. The city said that people in the affected area should “avoid using water other than for flushing until further notice.” (RELATED:California Residents May Soon Be Drinking Recycled Sewage After New Rule Passes)
The City of Grand Prairie has detected a foaming agent in the water supply north of I20. If you live in the area outlined in this map, please avoid using water other than for flushing until further notice. Locations are approximate. Follow https://t.co/QoL03WDigc for the latest. pic.twitter.com/WBobsaabji
— City of Grand Prairie, TX (@gp_tx) September 4, 2024
The city has already begun distributing bottled water to the public, CBS News reported. Public officials continue to test water samples in the meantime, a city press release says.
UPDATE: The City’s aviation director is en route to a testing lab in Corpus Christi with the latest water samples. We hope to receive the results by late this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/s0LssqkOwu
— City of Grand Prairie, TX (@gp_tx) September 5, 2024
The city said that they hope to receive an update about the samples by late Thursday.
