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Operation Blessing to distribute over 53K bottles of water in Texas

Posted at 4:08 PM, Dec 17, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-17 16:08:12-05

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Operation Blessing International will distribute 53,400 bottles of water to Corpus Cristi residents this weekend after parts of the city’s drinking water system became contaminated.

City officials warned residents of the contamination Thursday. It appears the water is contaminated with what is believed to be an industrial chemical. A water ban remains in the middle of the city.

Grocery stores have reportedly run out of bottle water, and many residents are waiting for more shipments to arrive.

Operation Blessing has sent two tractor-trailer trucks with bottle water from its warehouses in Florida and Nebraska. The trucks were expected to arrive on Saturday.

The water will be distributed by the First United Methodist Church of Corpus Christi.

“Providing safe water for people is one of Operation Blessing’s core competencies,” said Bill Horan, president of Operation Blessing. “Usually we do this in developing countries, as it’s rare when we have a problem with drinking water in our own country. But in the last couple years, we are seeing more and more problems with contamination of the municipal supplies due to disaster or aging infrastructure. In this case it’s brought on by an industrial accident, but the bottom line is we are seeing an increased incidence of compromised drinking water quality in the US and the effect is not limited to lower income families.”

For more information on the water distribution, please call the church at (361) 884-0391.