Richardson lifts boil water notice, says water is safe to drink
Richardson, TX - The water in Richardson is now safe to drink.
City officials gave the all-clear after getting lab results from water testing on Friday afternoon.
The boil notice was issued on Wednesday after a water tower lost all pressure, causing equipment failure and a drop in water pressure. This drop raised concerns about unsafe bacteria, creating health risks for residents.
Richardson boil water notice expected to last through Friday morning
Thousands of Richardson residents will need to continue boiling their water for at least a little longer.
"Around mid-afternoon, we began to get complaints from residents and other users about the water pressure. That prompted us to investigate our distribution system. We discovered that a telemetry sensor in the Holly water tower had malfunctioned and was not sending information back to our monitoring stations," said City Manager Don Magner. "The water in that tower had dropped completely, even though the sensor was still reporting it at 10 feet."
The notice affected about 17,000 homes and businesses within the area bounded by Coit Road, Arapaho Road, U.S. Highway 75, and Spring Valley Road.
Five schools that closed Thursday also reopened Friday with restrictions. Water fountains were not in use, and students received cold meals, city officials said. The affected schools were Arapaho Classical Magnet, Dover Elementary, Heights Elementary, Richardson West Junior High, and Richardson High School.
The city distributed bottled water while the boil notice was in effect. Some of that bottled water had a "best used by" date of March 2024.
"The water was donated by the North Texas Food Bank, which has assured the city the water remains safe for consumption, stating there are no health concerns associated with drinking bottled water past its printed date," the city said in a statement.
Richardson said it will stop distributing those bottles. Anyone who would like a replacement package can pick one up from the water distribution center.