Residents in Corpus Christi, Texas were told not to only use bottled water after a recent back flow incident in the city’s industrial district could have contaminated the local water supply.
Director of Water Utilities, Aubrey Spear, said in Lubbock we have put a lot of thought into back flow protection.
“They have actually told us here in this region,” Spear said. “That we have one of the more robust back flow protection programs and we have been very serious about making sure that were protecting our citizens from any kind of back flow contaminants.”
Spear said our systems were introduced about 15 years ago. He said all of the 7,500 commercial properties in Lubbock are inspected annually.
“We have to do what we call customer service inspections, CSI’s, on all commercial facilities to make sure there is not something going on within that facility that would cause a back flow that would be harmful to the health of our public,” Spear said.
If a back flow valve is necessary, Spear said the business is ordered to put one in. He said they adhere to strict rules put in place by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Spear said they have more than 1,700 miles of water lines in the city of Lubbock. He said they have pressure sensors on many of the lines that are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He also said that many of the sensors do not cover every inch of pipeline and therefore, his office relies on citizens to notify them if something is unusual.