U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7 - 11201 Renner Blvd., Lenexa, KS 66219 Serving Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations EPA Region 7 Deploys Certified Drinking Water Analysts with Mobile Lab to Work with Texas as they Restore Drinking Water Systems Contact Information: Ben Washburn, 913-551-7364, [email protected] Environmental News FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Lenexa, Kan., Feb. 23, 2021) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has deployed resources and staff to communities in Texas dealing with drinking water and wastewater system outages as a result of Winter Storm Uri. This support comes in response to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). "The Region 7 mobile lab team is in Texas to help restore drinking water systems in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area by analyzing water samples for bacteria," said Acting EPA Region 7 Administrator Ed Chu. "EPA has a successful history working with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in the aftermath of extreme weather disasters, including after Hurricane Harvey." TCEQ is conducting assessments of drinking water and wastewater systems in Texas and reporting their findings to EPA. Drinking water systems remain heavily impacted in the state with many systems not operating at all or operating with restrictions such as boil advisories and conservation measures. Please refer to TCEQ's website for the most up-to-date information on water systems. Upon receiving a mission assignment from FEMA, EPA dispatched three mobile drinking water labs to assist TCEQ and FEMA with analysis of drinking water samples. EPA's mobile labs deployed from Region 7 in Lenexa, Kansas, and Region 4 in Atlanta, Ga. The labs are certified to perform bacteriological analysis among other types of analyses. The mobile labs and support staff are scheduled to assist with processing drinking water samples in Austin, Fort Worth and Houston. EPA continues to support FEMA, state, local and tribal partners in response to Winter Storm Uri. EPA is taking action to ensure Superfund sites are secure following the storm, to assist public drinking water systems with rapid assessments and analyses, and to seamlessly integrate emergency response activities with Texas, and other federal agencies. EPA encourages affected communities to continue staying alert for instructions from local authorities. Additional information about EPA Labs: https://www.epa.gov/regionallabs For information in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese on Winter Storm Safety in Texas, visit: https://www.epa.gov/tx/water-texas # # # Learn more about analyzing drinking water: https://www.epa.gov/dwanalyticalmethods Learn more about EPA Region 7: www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-7-midwest Connect with EPA Region 7 on Facebook: www.facebook.com/eparegion7 Follow us on Twitter: @EPARegion7  |
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