Grand Prairie says water now safe to use; classes to resume Monday
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Grand Prairie residents have been flushing their water systems after getting the go-ahead Thursday night that their water is now safe.
Contamination earlier this week caused a water emergency that prompted the shutdown of schools in the district.
It's been a rough couple of days for residents and business owners affected by the water advisory.
Grand Prairie ISD canceled classes Friday so crews could get the campuses ready to reopen on Monday.
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Grand Prairie residents are still being urged not to use the water because of a "foaming agent" in the water supply. City officials say they are awaiting water test results to give the all clear.
The water is flowing once again at Legendz Barber Academy in downtown Grand Prairie.
Owner Joe Hernandez had been using bottled water since Wednesday after the city issued a water advisory for about a third of Grand Prairie to wash customer's hair.
"It feels good to get back into the swing of things," he said.
The mayor lifted the water advisory Thursday night after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gave the city the all-clear.
People were asked to flush their water systems in phases in order to avoid a massive drop in pressure.
"Leave the hot water running for 15 minutes. Shut the hot water off. Turn all the cold water faucets on, but you only need to run them for 5 minutes," he explained in Thursday’s press conference.
Commercial entities had to follow some additional steps.
Main Street was noticeably busier than Thursday.
Across the street at Roma's Italian Bistro, customers are finally back.
"We were closed for two days," said owner Romeo Manellari. "So being a small business, it's kind of hard to miss any days honestly."
Manellari's bistro is in zone one and his home in zone two, so he was up late Thursday night flushing out the water lines at both places.
"I hope it's all good. They didn't give us any testing kits to make sure," he said.
Grand Prairie ISD used the day without students to get the district's 36 campuses ready for school on Monday.
The maintenance and operations team changed the filters for drinking fountains, flushed all of the drinking water and ice machine lines and drained and flushed all water heaters.
Residents collecting the last of the bottled water at Lone Star Park Friday morning are grateful the nearly three-day event is over.
The mayor says if you're a resident who has run the hot water on all your faucets for 15 minutes and then cold water for 5 minutes and it still seems foamy or murky, repeats the steps again.