Just when you thought living on the Hub City’s perimeter couldn’t get any more glamorous, our lovely neighbors over in Shallowater have been hit with a reality check. As of Saturday afternoon, June 13, the entire town has been placed under a Boil Water Notice because a local contractor apparently forgot how to read an infrastructure map and sliced right through a main water line.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had to step in and officially remind everyone that drinking mud and rogue bacteria is generally bad for your health. Now, if the good citizens of Shallowater want to do basic human activities—like brushing their teeth, washing their faces, or making ice—they have to bring their tap water to a vigorous rolling boil for a full two minutes. Because nothing screams “cutting-edge West Texas infrastructure” like standing over a steaming pot of tap water when it’s already scorching outside.
If you aren’t thrilled about turning your kitchen into a sauna just to rinse an apple, the city has generously suggested you go buy bottled water. For those who want answers, the press release lists local officials Russel Moses and Royking Potter as the designated complaint-receivers. Good luck to those gentlemen, who are surely having a spectacular weekend answering phone calls from hydrated, happy citizens.
The city says they’ll lift the notice whenever they manage to patch the hole and verify the water isn’t a biohazard. Until then, stay safe, Shallowater—and try not to think too hard about the fact that a town named after water can’t even get the stuff safely out of a faucet.
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