State report finds Trinidad’s water quality fails to meet standards”

TRINIDAD (KETK) — Over the past several months, residents of this East Texas city have been advocating for clean drinking water. Their concerns were confirmed by a recent report from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), which identified three violations in the local water supply.

According to TCEQ, the state received multiple complaints regarding poor water quality in April. An investigation was launched shortly after, which evaluated and tested the water system for compliance.

Three of the alleged violations were found to need corrective action with a compliance plan by Aug. 3.

In the investigation, it was found that the system had issues between its filter and controller and failed to conduct chloramine effectiveness, which is used as an alternative disinfectant. It was also found that some streets that reported discoloration problems could not mitigate excessive water age, which is not meeting compliance.

The report reads that the discolored water did not originate from Trinidad’s surface water treatment plant. The operator of the water system told TCEQ that the city is looking to upgrade the water mains through several projects.

“He believed significant portions of the distribution system are old, iron-based water mains (an inventory of the water main composition was not available for review),” the report reads.

Other alleged violations were investigated, but were found to be resolved before the completed report, the TCEQ said.

Additionally, DPS has confirmed to KETK News on Tuesday that the Texas Rangers are now investigating the city. Officials were unable to disclose the nature of the investigation; however, it remains ongoing.