- By Jenna Duncan Staff Writer jduncan@dentonrc.com
Residents in southwest Denton no longer need to boil their water before consumption.
The boil notice lasted nearly 24 hours for residences and businesses in a section of southwestern Denton — south of Interstate 35E, north of Highland Park Road, west of Kendolph Drive and east of Western Boulevard.
The notice was issued after cross-contamination between a stormwater pond and a water distribution system near Apogee Stadium on the University of North Texas campus.
“Technicians experienced backflow while reconnecting an irrigation pump,” said Leigh Anne Gullett, a spokeswoman for UNT. “They immediately shut it down and contacted the city. The university is investigating exactly what caused the issue.”
Backflow happens when the pressure drops in an irrigation system and surrounding water is drawn back into the water line. The city requires that a backflow preventer be used when an irrigation system is set up to avoid the contamination.
The lines were isolated and flushed Thursday, and a sample of the water was sent to a lab for testing, said Ryan Adams, a spokesman for the city. Officials sampled and tested the water, and the test Friday afternoon confirmed there was no harmful bacteria in the drinking water supply.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rescinded the boil notice at 4 p.m. Friday.
Two UNT residence halls were affected — Mean Green Village and Victory Hall. The water could only be used to flush toilets, according to an administrative announcement sent to campus. Because of the impact, Champs Cafeteria was closed Thursday night.
Several manufacturing hubs were within the impacted area, but the boil notice didn’t impact production at Target Distribution Center, Peterbilt or TetraPak, company officials said.
“I can say it has an impact on our operations from the perspective that employees are unable to use the ice and water in the building,” said Larine Urbina, vice president of communications at TetraPak. “I think some of our team had a rough start today without that cup of morning coffee.”
UNT staff first reported the contamination around 3:30 p.m. Thursday and at 4 p.m., city utilities staff turned off water distribution system valves to isolate the problem.
City staff also tested areas around the notice area and found there was no impact for customers outside of the designated area.
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