Austin issues a boiling water advisory throughout the city: NPR

The floods in Austin have swept away countless volumes of soil and silt in the water system, said Austin's water director Greg Meszaros.

Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon / KUT

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Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon / KUT

The floods in Austin have swept away countless volumes of soil and silt in the water system, said Austin's water director Greg Meszaros.

Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon / KUT

The Austin Water Department has issued a boiling water advisory at the citywide level while it faces the watershed. impact of debris caused by floods on its water treatment capabilities.

"The high level of debris, silt and mud requires prolonged filtration that slows the treatment process of treated water in the system," Austin Water said in a press release. "In order to provide the necessary water pressure for fire protection, factories must dispense water at processing levels not meeting the company's high consumption standards." . "

The city is asking residents to reduce their overall water consumption and to boil tap water for consumption for at least three minutes to kill any bacteria that may be found there. Utilities said there had been no positive test so far for "bacterial infiltration" of the water system.

This is the first time that a boiling water advisory on the scale of the city is published in the history of the water department.

"This is not a conclusion we came to lightly," said Spencer Cronk, director of the city of Austin. "Unfortunately, it's just a case of Mother Nature who is throwing more on the system than he can currently treat."

Austin's water director, Greg Meszaros, said that once flooding began, it caused huge amounts of soil and silt in the river system. Austin Water's three drinking water plants currently operate at one-third to one-quarter of their normal capacity.

"It was a real fight," says Meszaros. "We have not yet had a violation but we think that only one is likely and we wanted to issue this boil water advisory before all that."

Austin Water normally produces more than 300 million gallons a day. But the utility has been able to produce just over 100 million gallons of water in the last two days, which is about the amount consumed by Austin customers.

Austin Water will raise boil water reporting once it is able to stabilize treatment systems.

"I do not know when it will end, we will just have to take this day by day and hour by hour to see our factories perform," Meszaros said.

Austin Public Health stated that all restaurants and food suppliers are aware of water issues and that food inspectors will cross the city. Hospitals and schools in the region have also been notified.

Austin Independent School District encourages students to bring bottles of water with them. In an email sent Monday morning, the district also reported that all cafeteria managers were following the cooking instructions, and that lunch menus had been adjusted to ensure safety. This includes the elimination of all salad bars at the moment.