SAWS employees announce boiling water warning

SANTO ANTÓNIO – San Antonio Water System customers must boil their water before drinking it until further notice.

That recommendation came from SAWS President and CEO Robert Puente during the emergency city council meeting on Wednesday.

An official boiling water warning is expected to be issued on Wednesday.

Puente said the boiling water warning comes from “an abundance of caution” due to the low water pressure and said that only the water used for drinking needed to be boiled. Puente said tap water is safe for washing hands and bathing.

“It is safe to say that we will deal with this situation for days, not hours,” said Puente. “This situation is likely to get worse and more pipes on private properties will break and we will have a more difficult problem maintaining pressure.”

Puente said that as long as there are power cuts, there will be water problems.

SAWS officials said most of the disruptions are concentrated in the northern tip of the city or the southern tip. He said that although there are small outbreaks of water shortages in the middle of the city, low water pressure is a major problem for most customers.

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He also said that power outages are not the only problem for water customers at the moment. He said that because there are so many broken pipes in the city, an enormous amount of water is leaking and is not reaching customers. He said that because of leaks, the city is using more water than on some of our hottest summer days.

District 8 councilor Manny Pelaez asked SAWS officials how people could boil water without electricity.

Puente said SAWS officials will meet with HEB soon to coordinate a way to bring water to residents who need it.

Steve Clouse. SAWS ‘senior vice president and chief operating officer told board members that CPS Energy asked SAWS to remove its pumping stations from “critical circuits” when ERCOT rolling interruptions began. He said that is why the SAWS pumps lost power this week.

“What we are experiencing is probably the type of storm once every generation, once in a lifetime,” said Puente. “SAWS is our largest consumer of energy and CPS Energy is the largest user of water in our community. Therefore, we are coordinating with each other. We have been working together and trying to inform each other what is going on and what is the best way to conserve and conserve energy. “

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Puente asked customers to be patient, saying he recognized that many customers tried to call and failed to make the call.

“Our customer service representatives have been working from home because of the COVID pandemic, but now, unfortunately, their own homes are without power,” said Puente. “They don’t have or don’t have internet services. This is causing us to be unable to answer the phones and get answers to the public and our community. “

Puente said this week was a learning experience.

“We will use this specific emergency to reevaluate what worked and what didn’t. Whether it’s our equipment, our workers, our responses, our dispatch, our communications, everything will be something that we will look at and we want to improve the promise that I am making to each of you, ”said Puente.

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