The cause of the contaminated water at the new William Beaumont Army Medical Center in East El Paso appears to have been found and the water system is being fixed, officials announced Tuesday afternoon.
A valve failure in the hospital’s water softener system appears to have put brine, or salty water, into the water system, causing “limited piping corrosion,” which resulted in sediment contaminating and discoloring the water, officials said in a news release.
Meanwhile, the hospital on Monday reopened its emergency department to trauma patients and again allowed elective surgeries by using bottled water and having surgical instruments sanitized at another El Paso hospital, Beaumont officials reported.
Elective surgeries had been canceled and trauma patients diverted to other hospitals since April 7, after it was determined the water system had been contaminated with sediment.
GET WET! 