Extreme cold leaves millions of people in Texas without drinking water

Millions of people in Texas are currently suffering from a lack of drinking water due to the explosion of several pipes caused by frozen water and the shutdown of some water treatment plants due to snowstorms and extremely low temperatures, as the Guardian reveals.

Texas officials have recommended a total of seven million people, a quarter of the population in the country’s second largest state, to boil tap water before drinking it.

The hospitals in Austin and Houston are among the most affected. “We are working with drinking water that we started buying last week,” said David Huffstutler, CEO of St David’s HealthCare in Austin, in a statement, quoted by the American press.

“In addition, we continue to work with the Austin local government to address the water shortage, but the city council executive has not yet managed to fix our hospital’s water pressure system,” adds the same statement.

Austin Water warned yesterday, in a note published on its page, that the water treatment plants are already operating reasonably, but there are still “many challenges” to resolve. We are a family owned and operated business.

The interruption of the water supply is the second catastrophe caused by the cold in the State, after the blackout in several regions that left millions of people without electricity and caused at least 30 deaths.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced yesterday afternoon that all power plants are again ready to go back to work.

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