CORPUS CHRISTI – City officials in Corpus Christi issued a warning to residents to avoid tap water usage until further notice.

In a press release, the city stated “an unknown chemical substance may have contaminated the City of Corpus Christi drinking water due to a recent back-flow incident in the industrial district.”

The city held a press conference late Thursday morning. Officials said a bonding agent for asphalt, called Indulin AA-86, leaked into the water. It’s estimated around five to 25 gallons leaked.

The city said they met with the company and property owner. The city did cut off the water supply to the company.

Water tests are coming back, and so far they have been clear. But officials are still waiting to get more test results.

“Part of the difficulty is the chemical is a patented chemical, so we had to take extra steps to legally get information that we cannot disclose in regards to the makeup of this patented chemical. So it’s taking a little longer because we need to know the exact strain, so we know exactly what we are testing for,” Corpus Christi spokesperson Kim Womack said.

Only bottled water should be used for drinking, beverage and food preparation, making ice, washing and bathing. City officials added “boiling, freezing, filtering, adding chlorine or other disinfectants, or letting the water stand will not make the water safe.”

The city is working with state regulators and consultants to correct the problem as soon as possible.