Leaders announce hopes to lift order in portions of the city once safe results are returned
KILLEEN, Texas (Oct. 26, 2021; 7:30p.m. Update) – During tonight’s City Council meeting, city officials announced that the first set of samples have been sent to a lab for a 24-hour testing process, amid a boil water notice (BWN) that was issued one week ago on Oct. 19.
Now that the samples have been sent to a lab, the 24-hour testing will begin and leaders say those results are due to return by late Wednesday night, with the hopes of lifting the boil water notice in portions of the City at that time.
The City will announce those pressure plane areas that would reopen once the results are safely returned. Per State law, the BWN notice cannot be lifted until the lab finds the samples acceptable.
Tonight, the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District (WCID), along with the City’s Department of Public Works provided an update and answered several questions from council and citizens on WCID’s chlorine conversion, as well as the city’s BWN.
WCID’s chlorine conversion is a process that will occur in all areas it services (Belton, Copperas Cove, Killeen, Harker Heights, Nolanville and the Fort Hood Military Reservation) until Nov. 21. The City of Killeen’s BWN is not on that timeline and has never been expected to last that long. Jeffery Reynolds, the Executive Director of Public Works, described an after-action plan as a way forward to prevent an incident like this in the future. It includes the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) providing extensive training for WCID and its customers regarding chloramine treatment, nitrification and nitrification action plans; as well as installation of chlorine booster stations throughout the distribution system, and heightened standards, alerts and scheduled chlorine conversions. Following a best practice by other cities, an annual or bi-annual chlorine conversion may also be put in place to help the entire water distribution system.
Reynolds confirmed that this incident has not negatively affected the City of Killeen’s TCEQ rating, as the City has been consistently self-reporting, void of fines and has been transparent.
“The City of Killeen has maintained a superior rating since February of 2019,” he said, adding that this issue will enhance the City’s rating.
For those who want to view the full presentation and meeting, you can visit http://www.killeentexas.gov/281/Council-Live-Streaming