The Brazos Water Authority is asking Freeport, Texas, residents and its surrounding areas to conserve water after a chemical was sprayed too close to the region’s water supply.
While employees were spraying a common aquatic herbicide in the Dow freshwater canal, the Brazosport Water Authority’s intake area was also accidentally sprayed with Alligare Glyphosate. According the label the product should not be applied “directly to water or to areas where surface water is present.
With 2 million gallons of clean water in reserve, Freeport City Manager Jeff Pynes initiated Freeport’s Emergency notification system asking residents to conserve water until samples from near the treatment plant could be thoroughly tested. The Brazos Port Water Authority temporarily shut down the water plant as an extra precautionary measure.
Dow conducts spraying annually as standard practice to manage water hyacinth in its canals to ensure continued water flow to Dow and BWA.