When a city issues a boil-water notice, the ripple effects are immediate and undeniable. For residents, it means a disruption of daily life—cooking, cleaning, drinking water—all compromised by the very resource most of us take for granted.

The boil-water notice issued to Victoria this past week serves as a stark reminder of the critical importance of maintaining the infrastructure we—the citizens of Victoria–all rely on.

Many Victoria residents have been visibly upset during this crisis, and some have taken to social media to voice their displeasure. That includes some prominent city business owners.

I won’t mention names, but some have voiced their displeasure about the boil water incident in no uncertain terms. Loss of significant income tops the list of grievances about the boil water notice.

At a handful of press conferences, city officials didn’t shirk their accountability or responsibility. At the July 15 City Council meeting, Mayor Duane Crocker, alongside Councilman Andrew Young and Councilwoman Jan Scott, spoke of steps to investigate the cause of the boil water notice and hope these steps will ensure the incident won’t repeat itself.

The first thing I would like to do is to commend Mayor Crocker and the City Council, along with the rest of city officials like City Manager Jesus Garza, for their willingness to be held accountable for the week-long disruption.

Mayor Crocker said in a press conference,  “I want to repeat the Council’s previously stated position on this matter: This incident with our water supply was unacceptable, and it demands a thorough review and accounting.”

Garza said of the incident—and I’m paraphrasing here—it has “taken a blow” to the trust of city residents. I applaud our city leaders of their full understanding of this and how they have not hidden from it. 

But they also know Victoria residents need to hear more than apologies—they need actionable plans. They need to know how the city plans to not just fix the SCADA system, but to adequately train those responsible for maintaining the system and to ensure that water quality is consistently monitored.

The formation of a special City Council committee to address the issue is a promising step forward, but the reality may be far more complex.

From listening to city officials in these press conferences that have taken place, it is easy to assume Victoria’s water system was already on borrowed time. The city’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, which monitors critical infrastructure, is 25 years old. That seems like a lifetime in technological terms.

The city has only just begun the process of seeking funding to upgrade the system. It has left city officials vulnerable to the crisis we saw this past week.

The technical causes need to be and are being investigated—the chlorine residuals, bacterial contamination and performance failures that led to the boil-water notice. But residents are left to wonder if something could have been done about it prior to this incident.

Perhaps, but now is not the time to dwell on “ifs, ands or buts.” It’s time to move forward and if I know our mayor and city council, they will pursue this with all diligence.

Mayor Crocker’s statement at the meeting that “No issue will be off the table, and no question will go unasked” is commendable. But I am sure he is keenly aware that it must not remain mere rhetoric.

Concrete answers are needed—not just about the boil notice itself, but about how the city will invest in its critical infrastructure and prevent further failures.

Shawn A. Akers is the managing editor of the Victoria Advocate. He can be reached at shawn.akers@vicad.com.