Houston-area water may be tainted with brain-eating microbe

LAKE JACKSON, Texas (AP) — Texas officials have warned residents of some communities near Houston to stop using tap water because it may be tainted with a brain-eating microbe.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality warned the Brazosport Water Authority late Friday of the potential contamination of its water supply by naegleria fowleri, which can be deadly.

It warned people not to use tap water for any reason except to flush toilets in Lake Jackson, Freeport, Angleton, Brazoria, Richwood, Oyster Creek, Clute and Rosenberg, as well as for Dow Chemical-Freeport and the Clemens and Wayne Scott state prison units.