ODESSA, Texas — While the water is back on for Odessa and Ector County, a boil water notice remains in place.
There was a possibility that Odessa and the Ector County Utility District could have tested water samples by now, but that can only be done once all leaks are fixed.
"My understanding is that before a city or a municipal utility district, like we are at ECUD, that you have to have all the leaks fixed, your system completely pressured up, and then you can start taking your samples," Tommy Ervin, president of the ECUD board of directors said.
Water should be back on. However, for some areas in Ector County, it took a little longer to get their water back because of where they were located and the different elevation planes that make up the county.
"You have to let the pressure build up in the city of Odessa first, and let them recharge their system to a certain point, and then, whenever the city can actually front us with 40 pounds of pressure or more, then we can start taking on water," Ervin said.
While neither the city of Odessa nor ECUD have taken samples of the water and sent it off to be tested yet, ECUD has run some preliminary tests on its water and received some positive results.
"We’re still waiting," Ervin said. "We’ve done some preliminary tests. It’s called chlorine residual tests. All of those look pretty good. It’s not where we want them, but they do look okay."
However, ECUD is still waiting on the city of Odessa to fix the leak and get their samples tested before they can take samples as well.
"ECUD will be right behind the city," Ervin said. "When the city starts, within about 15 to 20 minutes, ECUD will start doing the same sampling. We have 16 sample ports out here at ECUD. We’re not required to take samples from all 16 test ports, but we are."
There is currently no timetable as to when the city and ECUD will be able to take water samples, but once they collect the samples and send them to be tested, it will take 24 hours to get the results back.
For now, the boil water notice will remain in place until that is completed.