It Could Take Months Before Deadly Amoeba Is Out Of Lake Jackson's Water

It could take more than 2 months before Lake Jackson, Texas, has safe and clean water.

Officials with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gave that figure when discussing how they'll remove the microbe naegleria fowleri from the city's water supply.

“The path forward for the citizens of Lake Jackson is not going to be one that’s short,” TCEQ Executive Director Toby Baker said Tuesday.

“We have to get through the boil water first, which could take two to three weeks. After that we have to get chlorine levels to a state that can burn the entire system, scour the system, and kill the amoebas. That could take up to an additional 60 days.”

The brain-eating amoeba was discovered when officials tested the city's water after 6-year-old Josiah McIntyre died earlier in September. Josiah most likely came in contact with the amoeba while playing at a Lake Jackson splash pad. Naegleria fowleri becomes deadly when it enters a person's nose because it can travel to the brain and cause the disease primary amebic meningoencephalitis.

Contracting the microbe is incredibly rare, and Baker believes that this is the first time it has ever entered a water system in Texas.

During the weekend, the TCEQ cautioned residents across Brazoria County not to use their water. That was lifted once testing showed the amoeba was only in Lake Jackson. Now, Lake Jackson is under a boil water advisory until its water supply can be cleaned.

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