In Ennis, a boil water notice will continue tomorrow for the fifth straight day after officials say testing still hasn’t cleared their system as totally safe.
Ennis schools have been closed since Monday and classes are canceled Thursday as well while the district awaits the all-clear.
At the Kolache Depot bakery, empty shelves and shut-down drink machines are the product of a boil water notice the owner called a disaster for business.
They haven’t been facing it alone.
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“We’ve been boiling water since 4 AM,” said Morgan Ruffin, owner of Fern in the Wild.
The city of Ennis has been under a boil water notice since Sunday morning when cold temperatures caused a water main break – that led to six other pipes springing leaks.
By Tuesday the city said the lines had been repaired, and in a meeting Wednesday night the mayor said some test results have shown the water to be free of contaminants.
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But Ennis will continue the boil notice until more tests come back on Thursday.
“We have to make sure that we can say without a doubt that the water is safe to consume,” said Kameron Raburn, mayor of Ennis.
The Ennis Independent School District has canceled classes every day this week and will be closed tomorrow.
For businesses like Fern in the Wild, it’s been a week of extra work to keep their doors open.
“Using plastic ware, disposables to take loads off of your back of the house, things like that,” said Ruffin.
On Wednesday, Ennis leaders voted to approve more than $1 million to design improvements to the city’s water treatment plant, a project that could eventually cost up to $15 million.
As they worked through this together, some in the Ennis community said they would support whatever it took to find a long-term fix.
“For small businesses especially, this is our big quarter, this is fourth quarter, this is holiday season, this is all we have to make our year,” said Ruffin. “We all invest a lot into this month especially, so losing out on any business is always hard but this part of the year is especially tough.”
With Ennis planning improvements to the water treatment plant, NBC 5 asked if the city has any plans to address the pipes citywide after this week.
An Ennis spokesperson said that addressing the city’s aging infrastructure is a priority for the mayor.
