Extreme Weather Brought Tyler's Aging Water Utility into Focus
In partnership with The Tyler Loop
Brandon Coffey of Super Plumbers threads hot and cold water lines while repairing damage from Winter Storm Uri in a Tyler, Texas house on March 2, 2021. (Sarah Miller/Deep Indigo Collective for The Tyler Loop)
Some Tyler, Texas, residents questioned municipal tap water quality before the city issued a boil water notice during the extreme winter weather that affected much of the state in February. The weather’s impacts were a reminder that Tyler’s nearly 100-year-old water utility is due for upgrades. Deep Indigo picked it up there with our partner The Tyler Loop for this account from the East Texas city.
April 18, 2021: While ruminating about how Deep Indigo could best serve newsrooms and their readers at launch, one of the points we landed on was to create a visual resource contributing to detailed takes during or in the wake of rapidly unfolding, multidimensional natural crises. We were satisfied to see that approach successfully unfold in our latest collaboration. For this particular story, while the state was thawing and Tyler was still under a boil water notice, Deep Indigo and the Tyler Loop started considering the strongest angles to immediately follow up on the impact upon Tylerites.
Tyler experienced 111 water main breaks due to the sub-freezing temperatures. Residents cleaned up after burst pipes and were instructed to boil water in their homes. These experiences reminded those already skeptical of the Tyler Water Utility of the desire for clearer, cleaner water, transparency by the city government and for upgrades to aging infrastructure. Sarah A. Miller, who both wrote and photographed the story, constructed the piece around the various experiences of several Tylerites. Sarah’s extensive knowledge of Tyler built from her nearly10 years as a local photojournalist elevated the reporting of this crucial story. She created a strong collection of images that includes the direct impact of the freeze upon the city waterlines and in homes, how individuals live who are skeptical of the water quality and the people whose livelihoods are contingent on water. The story also featured residents that were unable to make immediate plumber repairs following the thaw, and one that continued to use city water after failing to be informed of the boil notice.
The severity and implications of the freezing temperatures across Texas was an eye-opening event to many. The failure of the power grid was one of the most visible disasters of the February weather. Yet, the biggest realization was that Texas, in the way property and infrastructure is currently built, is not ready to withstand another persistent deep freeze. Deep Indigo is devoted to helping newsrooms publish stories as the demand for climate-resilient infrastructure become a requirements in the run up to greater frequency of extreme weather.
-Andy Jacobsohn, Executive Director
(Rights to these images belong to Deep Indigo Collective. Please contact the nonprofit to license this content.)
Amori Mitchell uses a container of bottled water to brush her teeth on March 16, 2021. Mitchell stopped using the tap water at her Tyler home for cooking, drinking and brushing teeth after noticing the color turn brown starting in 2019. (Sarah Miller/Deep Indigo Collective for The Tyler Loop)
Amori Mitchell uses a stock pot to boil her tap before transferring it to use for as clean bathwater. (Sarah Miller/Deep Indigo Collective for The Tyler Loop)
Skip Inks, owner of New Visions Water Filters, located in Tyler, holds a water sample from a customer while in his water testing lab on March 22, 2021. (Sarah Miller/Deep Indigo Collective for The Tyler Loop)
The City of Tyler releases water from a hydrant near a broken water main on E. Houston St. on February 25, a week after the weather’s below freezing temperatures caused damage to water pipes throughout the city. (Sarah Miller/Deep Indigo Collective for The Tyler Loop)