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Austin Water Issues Boil Water Notice

3adays

By 3adays
in Daily Texan

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Michael Knight
Michael Knight
BrickHorn
BrickHorn

There is no gas shortage.  We have plenty at the pumps.  People just need to be sure to boil their gasoline for a full three minutes before use.

atomheartbevo
atomheartbevo

stole from reddit Austin but it’s appropriate. 

bolverk

bolverk 29,659

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Hard enough that every tv station is explaining how to do it.  

If Austin Water tells us “if it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down”, they will have to release flowcharts with huge pictures to explain it. 

I'm picturing something like this.

Urine-Color-Chart-Boy-Scouts.jpg?ssl=1

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irishtexan

irishtexan 11,515

Posted
Posted

They're sending some mixed messaging. Is the problem that the water is potentially tainted? Or that there are resource limitations due to the extra time it takes to treat this muddy silty water? Because they're saying they can't "treat" the water that they're currently putting out, but we still have to boil that treated water? What's the actual problem here?

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Orange&White

Orange&White 5,522

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

They're sending some mixed messaging. Is the problem that the water is potentially tainted? Or that there are resource limitations due to the extra time it takes to treat this muddy silty water? Because they're saying they can't "treat" the water that they're currently putting out, but we still have to boil that treated water? What's the actual problem here?

This is exactly where I am with this. They are saying two different things and they make no sense when you put them together. 

I've now seen two different, random internet people claiming that the city uses an inadequate filtration process and that is the true root cause.  I don't quite believe based on two rando internters, but it certainly sounds plausible. 

Edited by Orange&White
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phdhorn

phdhorn 6,224

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hey we got more rain coming up tomorrow and I imagine most of you are confused, just like over the complexity of boiling water (don't try that at home!).  So here's a quick guide for what to do when it rains.

 

sm13-0005-commuters-guide-to-rainy-days-

 

Edited by phdhorn
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South Austin

South Austin 52,462

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, Chet Steadman said:

Meanwhile, there still hasn't been a single test which has indicated the water is anything but safe to drink. 

Yet the entire City of Austin's pets heads are falling off.

My understanding is that we hadn't yet cycled through all the clean water in the supply, and pretty soon the poop water is coming.*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Yes, I understand I called the shit "poop." 

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Wally Pryor

Wally Pryor 5,261

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

lAustin Pets Alive! says it does not currently have an adequate way of boiling all the water needed to care for animals at the shelter, located at 1156 W. Cesar Chavez St. near downtown Austin.

 

 

I love my dogs as much as anyone but for 10+ years they've consumed a lot of water from Barton Creek and other unfiltered bodies of water, and they're as healthy as can be. 

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immamac

immamac 42,839

Posted
Posted

I think it's funny so I'll put this in here.

My wife called me yesterday as she was boiling about 5 gallons of water and asked "Do I even have to do this since we are on a well?" I laughed and told her nope - I guess for all the drawbacks one advantage of well water is not having to give a shit about the incompetent city and their tainted water supply

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bschoolprof

bschoolprof 6,252

Posted
Posted

 

52 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

They're sending some mixed messaging. Is the problem that the water is potentially tainted? Or that there are resource limitations due to the extra time it takes to treat this muddy silty water? Because they're saying they can't "treat" the water that they're currently putting out, but we still have to boil that treated water? What's the actual problem here?

One article I read suggested that a) their supply was smaller due to longer processing times; but b) this smaller supply was not filtered to their normal standards, but had to be sent down the pipe anyway to meet safety needs (i.e., pressure in the system; fire hydrants - not sure how it all works).  This could combine to create the current situation - smaller, dirtier supply.

I'm still calling bullshit though because I don't trust COA in general and city utilities specifically.  

 

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South Austin

South Austin 52,462

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, immamac said:

I think it's funny so I'll put this in here.

My wife called me yesterday as she was boiling about 5 gallons of water and asked "Do I even have to do this since we are on a well?" I laughed and told her nope - I guess for all the drawbacks one advantage of well water is not having to give a shit about the incompetent city and their tainted water supply

Joke's on you.  I took a shit in your well.

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Dbeasy

Dbeasy 15,044

Posted
Posted
I think it's funny so I'll put this in here.
My wife called me yesterday as she was boiling about 5 gallons of water and asked "Do I even have to do this since we are on a well?" I laughed and told her nope - I guess for all the drawbacks one advantage of well water is not having to give a shit about the incompetent city and their tainted water supply


I can’t decide whether this is a humblebrag or an admission of being poor.
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Leeroy Jenkins

Leeroy Jenkins 2,402

Posted
Posted

Oh shit...  Leander is down....  I saw again Leander is down...  All freak out.

 

Quote

*BOIL WATER NOTICE* 10/23/2018, 1:20 p.m. — Contractors working along Crystal Falls Parkway damaged a large water main near Overland Drive.

Boil Water Notice areas near Lakeline Boulevard at Crystal Falls Parkway include: CapRock at Crystal Falls, Randalls Town Center, Cottages at Crystal Falls, Whitestone Elementary, Fire Station No. 2, Fairways at Crystal Falls, Grand Mesa, Legacy at Crystal Falls, and Primrose School of Crystal Falls.

About seven water customers near Overland Drive are without water at this time.

**NOTE: This incident is unrelated to the Highland Lakes flooding and Austin area boil water notices.**

Samples of water will be taken to a state-approved laboratory for analysis. Test results should be available in the next 24 to 48 hours. Once determined, all affected areas will receive a similar notice canceling the request to boil water.

Details: https://www.leandertx.gov/…/water-main-break-crystal-falls-…

 

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Bevo Num1

Bevo Num1 1,011

Posted
Posted
Oh shit...  Leander is down....  I saw again Leander is down...  All freak out.
 

*BOIL WATER NOTICE* 10/23/2018, 1:20 p.m. — Contractors working along Crystal Falls Parkway damaged a large water main near Overland Drive.

Boil Water Notice areas near Lakeline Boulevard at Crystal Falls Parkway include: CapRock at Crystal Falls, Randalls Town Center, Cottages at Crystal Falls, Whitestone Elementary, Fire Station No. 2, Fairways at Crystal Falls, Grand Mesa, Legacy at Crystal Falls, and Primrose School of Crystal Falls.

About seven water customers near Overland Drive are without water at this time.
**NOTE: This incident is unrelated to the Highland Lakes flooding and Austin area boil water notices.**
Samples of water will be taken to a state-approved laboratory for analysis. Test results should be available in the next 24 to 48 hours. Once determined, all affected areas will receive a similar notice canceling the request to boil water.
Details: https://www.leandertx.gov/…/water-main-break-crystal-falls-…
 
Why does it take 24 to 48 hours for testing results? Do they have an intern drink it to see if he or she gets the shits?
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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89,643

Posted
Posted

I want to rant for a two posts, one technical, one political.

Technical first.

1. First, I under the whole concept of too much silt-filled water coming in too fast and having to clean the filters and not being able to keep up with the filtration.  I also understand that they have to keep a certain pressure on the system for things like fire fighting, and so not-so-treated water is getting through.   This is the thing I have the least problem with (I think it should be a better system, but that's for the political post). I also understand that there haven't been any failed tests, but that they are worried that they will fail some tests.

2. This is the one I have the bigger problem with.  I did not pick up a copy of the newspaper, but I noticed in a store that yesterday's Statesman had a front-page article about customers being asked to cut back water consumption (this was probably printed before the boil notice dropped).  Austin Water began raising alarms yesterday that people were using more water from the reservoirs than was being pumped into the reservoir, and that the water supply could run out.  

It was something like "consumers are drawing/using 120 million gallons a day, and we are only able to pump 105 million gallons a day into the reservoirs"

What in the hell is up with this part?  Again, some of this will be for the political post, but we went from somebody telling the newspaper to urge people to cut back, to a boil notice, to a "welp, either cut back your water or the supply will run out!"

I would like to think those reservoirs have a few days worth of water in them, but either way, if LCRA can measure water levels down to the hundredth, Austin Water should be able to give us more than 12 hours notice that we need to drastically cut back.

To say there won't be water in the system if we don't cut back is kind of a Big Fucking Deal.

 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89,643

Posted
Posted

Political rant.

1.  How have we not come up with a better water treatment system before now?  I get that many times the City Council caters to very small groups who make the effort to show up and vote, but this should be one of those looming issues, given our growth rate.  They built a very expensive library (with incredibly shitty parking), and part of it was "we are going to be a world-class city, and we are going to need this library in the future, and we need to show the world who we are and impress them."    And things like the Artist-in-Residence being embedded with the fucking watershed department.  Her salary maybe under $10,000 or $15,000 (and that's besides the fact that she's not from Austin, and has never lived in Austin), but all of this stupid shit piles up, and we are left without money for more important things.

Whatever goodwill maybe generated by things like the library, and whatever cozy feelings generated by the mural that our "artist" made for the Watershed Department goes away when people are boiling their drinking water and being told to go light on doing laundry and dishes.  Companies aren't impressed with an expensive library when people are wondering if their tap water will give them the shits.

2.  I want to know long city officials (Mayor, City Council) have known about any problems.  This is not a national security issue, it was due to historic flooding (and possible mismanagement in the past)  and I'm fairly certain that Sunday night, Austin Water did not suddenly realize "oh holy shit, we can't keep up with filtering and we are only pumping 108 million gallons into the reservoirs a day and residents are using 120 million gallons."

We did not go from a state of "everything is fine" to "boil your water and reduce your water usage by 10-15%" within 12 hours, and more than a few area journalists are stating that the problems were known about well before Sunday night/Monday morning.  

If they come out Friday or Saturday and ask people and companies to cut back on water consumption, we don't reach a point where on Monday afternoon, Austin Water is tossing out the prospect of running out of water.

If Adler and the City Council members knew about this issue before Sunday night/Monday morning, and were covering it up for whatever reason (Formula 1 anybody?) until it could no longer be covered up, then their asses need to be shown the door in their next election.

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