Do not drink the water at the Houston office of the Texas Department of Transportation. At least the water you find on the ground.

In a minor matter before the Texas Transportation Commission on Thursday morning, state officials approved adding an environmental restrictive covenant for the Houston office – essentially attaching the notice to the property’s records if it is sold – saying groundwater at the site is contaminated.

It’s the first part of a complex set of cleanups not for the property, but for the deeds and disclosures related to the property, while the dirty groundwater plume will sit right where it is.

That the groundwater is contaminated isn’t new, just the process of getting it deemed contaminated and off-limits for use. TxDOT moved into its headquarters at 7600 Washington, just north of Interstate 10 more than a decade ago.

Workers moved from a 1960s-era building just down the street, where TxDOT also operated many of its road maintenance operations. That property was sold to Silver Eagle Distributors – the Houston area’s main beer supplier – in 2013. Silver Eagle notified TxDOT it found groundwater contamination at the site, according to a transportation commission report, because of its previous use as a hub for transportation equipment.

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“The groundwater plume has been delineated on all sides, and there are no known active sources at either property,” officials said.

Like an issue that forced Metropolitan Transit Authority to renege on plans for an underpass along the Green Line on Harrisburg, the contamination isn’t an issue so long as it is undisturbed.

Silver Eagle and TxDOT are jointly seeking both properties be included in a municipal setting designation that would need approval from Houston officials. To receive the city OK, officials need TxDOT to add the restrictive covenant.

It wasn’t the only environmental cleanup, of paperwork at least, that transportation commissioners addressed on Thursday. Officials also approved a restrictive covenant for state-owned property long Beltway 8 near Hiram Clarke Road. Most of the contamination is below property owned by the Harris County Toll Road Authority, which owns and maintains the Sam Houston Tollway.

Beltway 8 acts as the frontage road to the Sam Houston Tollway.

In widening the tollway, officials discovered groundwater contamination, which the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality deems should restrict the property’s use to commercial and industrial purposes.

Because of underground fuel storage tanks and previous uses, the Houston area is dotted with numerous properties where groundwater does not meet safety standards because of leaching from tanks and soil spoiled by chemicals. According to a 2016 count by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, there are 879 groundwater contamination sites in Harris County and surrounding counties.