A chemical leak from an asphalt plant that led Corpus Christi officials to warn residents this week not to drink the water was apparently reported a week earlier, according to an email from a state environmental official that was obtained Friday.
The internal email sent Wednesday by Susan Clewis, a regional director for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, contained an incident report that described the leak as a “backflow incident from a chemical tank impacting the public water system.” It was reported Dec. 7 at Ergon Asphalt and Emulsions.
The email doesn’t indicate who filed the report or who received it, but it indicates that the state agency only learned of the leak on Wednesday, when city officials warned the public.
“Obviously we are concerned about that initial report, that this may have been known for seven days and it may have been going on for that long. And why did it take so long for TCEQ to get notified?” asked Luis Moreno, chief of staff for state Sen. Juan Hinojosa, whose district includes Corpus Christi. “Those are all things that I think are starting to be figured out right now.”
Dan McQueen, the mayor of the Gulf Coast city of about 300,000 people, has said local officials also only learned of the leak on Wednesday.
Neither Clewis nor city officials responded to Friday requests for comment.
The TCEQ report indicates that Indulin AA-86 or hydrochloric acid, or perhaps a combination of both, may have leaked into the water supply.
