Photo credit: Steven Depolo / C.C. BY 2.0
Late Wednesday evening, it was discovered that up to 24 gallons of a toxic chemical has leaked into Corpus Christi’s drinking water. The chemical, Indulin AA-86, comes from industrial activity located in Valero’s oil refinery operations, specifically related to a backflow preventer connected to asphalt production. City officials have recently given the green light for some areas of the city to use their tap water again, but warnings against using the tap water remain for large portions of the city of 320,000 people, noting that boiling, freezing, filtering, or any other method will not make the water safe.
The City has faced ongoing water concerns with the over 60-year old cast iron pipes needing to be upgraded since they are prone to collapsing, slow water flow, or permitting bacteria to contaminate the water. This is the fourth time in nearly a year and a half that Corpus Christi has faced a water contamination issue.
In response Hal Suter, Chair of the Coastal Bend Sierra Club, released the following statement:
“This contamination reminds us once again that putting dangerous industrial operations in and around our communities is a recipe for disaster. The gutting of resources to inspect and investigate these facilities compounds the danger. It has never been a question of whether these systems - whether they be pipelines, refineries, or any other operations -- will leak or fail, but rather a question of when. The Sierra Club calls for the cause of the contamination to be investigated immediately in a transparent way, and precautions taken to ensure the people of Corpus Christi remain safe.
“Access to safe drinking water is a right that must be protected, regardless of if you live in Flint, Michigan, on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, or in Corpus Christi, Texas.”