TX Fire Chief Sorry for Foamy, Bad-Smelling Water in Homes

Hours after a fire broke out Jan. 22 at a South Austin church, 38-year-old Angela Morris' husband came home with a question.

"I work at home and I had been in my office working all day and he came in and goes, 'Hey, you haven't been drinking the water have you?' " Morris said.

He then handed her a notice from Austin Water that had been hung on their Tanglewood Forest home — the water she had been drinking all day was contaminated with foam that Austin fire officials used to put out a church fire earlier that morning.

Austin Fire Chief Joel Baker apologized Monday to the Tanglewood Forest neighborhood, more than 10 days after residents reported foamy, smelly water in their homes.

Firefighters responded to the Westoak Woods Baptist Church, near the intersection of Slaughter Lane and West Gate Boulevard, just before 1 a.m., for an accidental electrical fire that broke out in an auxiliary building on the church campus.

Firefighters used water to put out the blaze, but decided to switch to foam, said Austin fire Assistant Chief of Emergency Operations Aaron Woolverton. The "Class A" foam can penetrate and soak into combustibles once it's added to a water stream, Woolverton said.

The foam is non-toxic and biodegradable, he said.

The engine at the forefront of the fire had a broken foam system, so firefighters used a second engine to pump foam into it while both were still connected to fire hydrants, Woolverton said.

The second engine pumped at a slightly greater pressure than the fire hydrant. This allowed backflow into the hydrant, causing the water to be contaminated with the foam, Woolverton said.

"So the lesson learned from this is if we're going to pump to a unit, that unit can't be connected to a water supply," he said.

Austin Water officials put paper notices on doors on Jan. 22 saying the utility had received comments about water quality along Aftonshire Way, Nightjar Drive, Sugar Hill Drive and Curlew Drive.

"As a precaution, customers are asked not to drink or ingest the water until water sample lab test results become available," the notice says. "Crews are flushing water from lines and investigating the cause."

Students at Kocurek Elementary, which is near the intersection of Curlew Drive and Aftonshire Way, were asked not to drink from water fountains while Austin Water investigated, according to an email from Principal Heather Parmelee.

Morris keeps an insulated tumbler at her desk and had refilled four or five times by the time her husband gave her the notice. Around 6 p.m., she noticed her stomach was upset.

Morris had two cases of bottled water and six gallons of distilled water delivered.

"It was kind of overkill. I didn't know how long it was going to last at the time," she said.

Woolverton said an upset stomach and irritated eyes would be the extent of what could happen from ingesting the contaminant.

Woolverton said this was the first time he's seen this kind of incident happen. Fire officials sent out a bulletin to Austin Fire Department personnel, detailing what happened and warning about being connected to two water supplies.

"To reiterate what Chief Baker said earlier: We wholeheartedly apologize for the mistake that was made here and to please know that we are going to work extra hard to make sure something like this never happens again," Woolverton said.

Morris said she liked to see the Fire Department take responsibility for the mistake.

"We're all human and we do make mistakes, so I would say thanks for telling us what happened. However, I also feel a little disappointed at the same time because it's Feb. 3 and this happened on January 22 and I in no way would ever believe that it took them this long to figure out what happened," Morris said. "I would have liked to know sooner."

On Jan. 24, Morris received a second door notice from Austin Water that said test results confirmed water was safe to use again.

Morris said some of her neighbors received knocks on the door from Austin Water when the contamination happened, while she only received a door notice and an automated phone call.

"I was thinking, 'Well, gosh, if one of my neighbors had someone knocking on their door, why didn't they knock on my door?' " Morris said. "I would have been happier with a better notice system. I think they should have knocked on everybody's door or called everybody."

The foamy water is the latest in a stream of problems over the past 16 months with Austin's water.

In October 2018, Austin Water issued a boil-water notice after river flooding overwhelmed the city's treatment plants with mud and debris.
In February 2019, a few months after the city-wide boil water notice, decaying zebra mussels stunk up tap water in Central and South Austin. The water was still safe to drink but Austin Water put powdered activated carbon into its water supply to help absorb the smell.
Then, over the summer, multiple waterways were affected by harmful blue-green algae blooms that can produce toxins that negatively affect the liver, nervous system and skin. Red Bud Isle, a popular park on Lady Bird Lake near Tom Miller Dam, Vic Mathias Shoes near the South First Street bridge and areas along Barton Creek between Barton Springs Pool and Lady Bird Lake, were all affected by the blooms.

At least five dogs were reported to have died after swimming in infested areas, which were cleared for recreational use in November 2019.

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