Now, days after that arctic blast chilled parts of the Central and Southern parts of the United States, a new problem is emerging: finding water. Officials in Harris County, including the city of Houston, announced that residents would need to boil water coming from their faucets before safely drinking it. “Water should only be used to sustain life at this point,” officials of the city of 48,000 said in an advisory. “We are close to running out of water supply in Kyle.”Now, some in Texas have turned to a once-unthinkable source for their water needs: snow. Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said melting snow for drinking water was “an emergency measure, if no other water is available,” it had also been cited as an emergency option by the Food and Drug Administration and the National Weather Service.

Source: New York Times February 18, 2021 05:28 UTC