NAVASOTA, TX — The City of Navasota is currently under a boil water advisory after a water main break occurred in the downtown area, late Thursday afternoon.
“Navasota had a water main break downtown, close to the railroad. It was a 12-inch water main, so a very large break. Basically, the entire city of Navasota lost water for all of that night,” says Stu Musick, Superintendent of Navasota ISD.
The large water main was damaged during work being progressed on the Railroad Street Improvement project, located in Downtown Navasota. City crews worked throughout the night to restore service as safely, and as quickly, as possible to local residents.
While the water main break affected all of the city, Navasota ISD, was in constant communication with local officials, determining, if they should remain open on Friday.
“Last night, around 8:30-8:45 P.M., we were at a point where we were trying to make a decision by 9 o’clock. Hoping to get the word out to folks and parents, whether or not we were going to have school today, and the biggest thing for us, was asking, 'do our schools have water?',” said Superintendent Musick.
While the schools are no longer using water fountains due to COVID-19 protocol; for the 2,900 students across the seven schools in the district, officials still had to make sure that water would be running, come that Friday morning.
“Mainly last night, we were wanting to know, 'Are we going to have water for restrooms on our campuses?” Musick stated.
For school officials, the next concern was making sure the cafeteria staff would be able to feed students, due to this boil water notice set by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
"With notice, they are able to have breakfast ready, and that breakfast could be cereal and toast, and milk, and fruit; having things that don’t require boiling and cooking in water, and so they were able to do that," shared Musick. "Lunch is a little bit more difficult because the items that are normally served, are cooked in water, but it can be done. Sometimes, it means it's a cold lunch instead of a hot lunch.”
With over 600 miles of water pipes throughout the City of Navasota, Musick says, Navasota Junior High and high school were the last schools in the district to get their water back on.
“It looked like 8 A.M was their goal [to get water back] for the junior high and high school. It ended up being about 9 A.M. at the high school... and a little bit after 9 A.M., about 9:15 A.M., was when the junior high got it back this morning also."
The City of Navasota wants to remind local residents that the boil water notice is in effect until further notice. Local residents looking for real-time updates are encouraged to follow the city's Facebook page, right here.