Harvey's filthy floodwaters will pose significant dangers to human safety and the environment even after water levels drop far enough that Southeast Texas residents no longer fear for their lives, according to experts.
Houston was already notorious for sewer overflows following rainstorms. Now the system, with 40 wastewater treatment plants across the far-flung metropolis, faces an unprecedented challenge.
State officials said several dozen sewer overflows had been reported in areas affected by the hurricane, including Corpus Christi. Private septic systems in rural areas could fail as well.
Also stirred into the noxious brew are spilled fuel, runoff from waste sites, lawn pesticides and pollutants from the region's many petroleum refineries and chemical plants.
The US Environmental Protection Agency reported that of the 2,300 water systems contacted by federal and state regulators, 1,514 were fully operational. More than 160 systems issued notices advising people to boil water before drinking it, and 50 were shut down.
The public works department in Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, said its water was safe. The system has not experienced the kind of pressure drop that makes it easier for contaminants to slip into the system and is usually the reason for a boil-water order, spokesman Gary Norman said.
In a statement on Thursday, federal and state environmental officials said their primary concerns were the availability of healthy drinking water and "ensuring wastewater systems are being monitored, tested for safety and managed appropriately."
About 85 per cent of Houston's drinking water is drawn from surface sources - rivers and reservoirs, said Robin Autenrieth, head of Texas A&M University's civil engineering department. The rest comes from the city's 107 groundwater wells.
"I would be concerned about what's in the water that people will be drinking," she said.
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