Months after sinkhole mishap, boil water notice affects Combes school year

COMBES, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The residents of Combes have been under a boil water notice since March 27 due to a main line break caused by a sinkhole during the floods. Now the water notice is affecting the school year.

Mayor Silvestre Garcia announced that the city will begin implementing a new technique to resolve the water issue starting Tuesday. The city is coordinating with East Rio Hondo for an emergency water connection and has upgraded infrastructure to conduct system flushing and testing to ensure no contamination.

"We're not removing that boil water [notice] even though we've gotten good samples at some point. The city commissioners and the city staff do not want to take the chance," Garcia said.

Mayor Garcia explained that the chlorinator has been moved to the north part of town, where the water tower is located, to inject chlorine, a process approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The city has also replaced the backflow preventer to connect and continue flushing the system.

Garcia noted that the process of flushing the system causes water pressure to decrease, which is why the work is scheduled during evening hours to avoid disrupting daily activities and school operations. Combes is home to Dishman Elementary School, part of the Harlingen Consolidated Independt School District.

Oscar Tapia, Assistant Superintendent for District Operations for the Harlingen CISD, stated that students will return to the classroom on Tuesday and that the school is prepared for the semester. Bottled water will be provided to students and staff for drinking, while the campus's water remains operational for flushing, washing hands, and running the sprinkler system.

Tapia mentioned that the school is also being supplied with disinfectants and hand sanitizer, and fresh water is brought in for cooking purposes.

"It's not quite there. So, what we do is we bring in fresh water to the school so they can drink for the staff and students in the kitchen to cook we boil the water with our braisers," Tapia said.

Mayor Garcia expressed confidence that the boil water notice could be lifted soon, possibly by this weekend or Monday at the latest. However, he also mentioned that there is an independent investigation underway by TCEQ, but he could not discuss details on that matter.

Mayor Garcia hopes that the boil water notice will be lifted soon after work begins, potentially by the weekend or Monday. The city continues to work closely with TCEQ to ensure water safety for its residents.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KVEO. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KVEO staff before being published.