The boil water notice imposed late Wednesday night for 20,000 to 25,000 North Odessans was lifted around 9 a.m. Friday.
On Wednesday night, a glitch in a computer system responsible for evaluating water levels and water pressure occurred, forcing the City of Odessa to impose the notice.
Odessa Public Works Director Tom Kerr said that a system called Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition is responsible for measuring various data points at the city’s elevated tanks and pump stations and transmitting the information back to the city’s main water plant on 42nd Street.
On Wednesday night, increased usage caused water levels to drop, but because of the glitch, operators were unaware of it and did not increase the pumpage to address the routine drop, Kerr said.
“Complaint calls told us something was amiss so we began to evaluate the system,” Kerr said.
The calls began around 9 p.m. and the issue was rectified by 10 p.m., but because the water pressure had dropped below 20 pound-force per square inch, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality required the city to impose a boil water notice, he said.
It’s unclear why the SCADA system failed, but upgrades are scheduled to take place as part of the city’s water plant upgrade project, he said.
