Seven million Texans are told to boil drinking water because low pressure may have allowed bacteria to seep into the system.
Millions of people in parts of the southern US are having to boil water before drinking it as burst pipes caused by record low temperatures may have contaminated the water supply. In Texas, seven million people – a quarter of the population of the nation’s second-largest state – were under orders to boil tap water because low water pressure could have allowed bacteria to seep into the system. Ruptured pipes also shut down the Memphis airport on Friday and left hospitals struggling to maintain sanitary conditions. A man died at an Abilene health care facility when a lack of water pressure made medical treatment impossible. US President Joe Biden said on Friday he will declare a major disaster in Texas, the Associated Press said, having already issued a state of emergency there, as well as in Oklahoma and Louisiana.
