Matt Woolbright

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

The chemical contamination that plunged Corpus Christi into a citywide advisory against using tap water this week was first reported to City Hall officials two weeks ago, the Caller-Times has learned.

City officials first received a “dirty water” report from an individual at an administrative building in the industrial district on Dec. 1. After city testing showed no issues with the city’s water, the issue was deemed to be a local one within the facility.

There was a second complaint of “dirty water” from the same location a week later, on Dec. 7. City crews responded a second time and also did not find any issues within the city’s water system in the area, but had the pipes in the area flushed to eliminate whatever issues were affecting the water.

There was a third complaint lodged with the city on Monday before the oily substance was discovered in water coming from a water faucet on Wednesday.

The timeline of dirty water calls and other information about this early notification of a potential looming water crisis was provided by a source who asked not to be identified because of the ongoing investigation by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The city's main transmission line in the area, which runs parallel to Interstate 37, supplies water to a connector line which then branches off to smaller lines that service industrial customers in the area. Off of one of those lines is a line that connects to the administrative building.

By Wednesday, the city's focus was on an additional pipe connecting the administration building and a chemical mixing tank.

The mixing tank employs Indulin AA-86, which is the chemical city officials have said was found in the water system. By Wednesday night, officials determined that had likely been the source of the contamination and the citywide alert was issued.

There have been no confirmed instances of the chemical entering the city’s water system outside of the industrial district, which is generally north of Interstate 37.