HOUSTON – A Texas lawmaker is sounding the alarm after a whistleblower came forward about a public health issue involving the water at the Harris County Jail.
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Texas Senator Paul Bettencourt said an unnamed individual alerted his office about water tank inspections at the jail on North San Jacinto. According to a letter Sen. Bettencourt wrote to a Texas Judge & Chairman of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the inspection showed three out of four water tanks were out of order, leading them to use the only working water tank running 24 hours a day “instead of being used as a reserve tank.”
Two of the water tanks were completely rusted over and had water leaking from the outside, Sen. Bettencourt said in his letter. The republican senator also claims the whistleblower brought this information before Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, but the problem persists.
In fact, an email from the whistleblower was sent to other high-ranking officials within HCSO (including Sheriff Gonzalez) suggesting this has been an ongoing issue but remains unresolved.
“We currently have only one of the four water tanks operational at the 701 Jail,” the email reads. “Two had to be shut down due to leakage and one had to be shut down due to a water test report showing it was contaminated due to too much Iron which is a direct result from the large amount of rust in the tank...I am in no way trying to tell you or anyone else what your job is and/or what to do but I would be negligent in my present duties assigned to me by the Sheriff if I didn’t make suggestions for the care, custody and control of the inmates as well as the safety of the HCSO personnel.”
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That email was sent back in early July, the day before Hurricane Beryl hit Harris County. Sen. Bettencourt says after he learned about the issue in late September, is when he penned his letter to the court.
“The whistleblower complaint is that only one tank out of four tanks is in 24-hour constant use at the jail and that there is, by testing, iron and iron oxide contamination results in the water supply,” the senator said in a statement. “This possibility causes serious concern for all those using water at the jail including inmates, deputies, visitors, etc., so the questions in my letter must be answered. But the real question is that if the whistleblower gave these facts to the Harris County Sheriff Gonzalez, ‘Why has nothing been done already?’”
A spokesperson for the Harris County Jail shared the following statement with KPRC 2:
“In May 2024, Harris County Engineering conducted a proactive assessment of maintenance needs at the Harris County Jail. In the course of this assessment, experts conducted water quality tests on a pair of water storage tanks at the jail facility located at 701 N. San Jacinto.
“This testing revealed elevated iron levels in one of the two tanks. It is important to note that iron falls within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Secondary Drinking Water Standards.
“The EPA does not enforce compliance with these secondary standards because, “They are established as guidelines to assist public water systems in managing their drinking water for aesthetic considerations, such as taste, color, and odor. These contaminants are not considered to present a risk to human health.”
“Out of an abundance of caution, this tank was then taken out of service, and Harris County Commissioners Court authorized repair work that is now in the planning stage. Clean water service to the jail facility has not been impacted by the situation.”