Austin water issues city-wide boil water notice


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The city asks all residents to boil water before drinking to ensure its safety and to reduce their water usage as much as possible.

Austin Water has issued a city-wide boil water notice for all customers of Austin Water. The notice is being issued as the utility works to stabilize the water treatment system.

Historic flood waters flowing into our water supply lakes contain very high levels of silt that makes it challenging for the water plants to produce the volume of water needed to supply customers at this time. The high level of debris, silt and mud requires extended filtration that slows the process of getting treated water in to the system. To provide necessary water pressure for fire protection, plants must distribute water at treatment levels not typical of the utility’s high standards for consumption.

To ensure that water is safe, customers are asked to boil water used for drinking, cooking or ice until further notice. It’s important to note that there have been no positive tests for bacterial infiltration of the system at this time.

“Anyone who’s seen the water running through Ladybird Lake can see how muddy it is. The unprecedented rain and runoff through our entire lake system has simply overwhelmed our treatment capacity,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler. “The good thing is that we can continue with most of our daily routines – like showering, hand washing and laundry – but we all need to do our part to conserve where we can, and boil the tap water we consume. We’re working with our partners in the school systems, health care, food service and neighboring cities to make sure we’re all working together.”