The city utility fell under increased scrutiny following the February boil-water situation, with fallout including the resignation of its longtime director and a planned external audit of the department's operations. The boil-water notice was found to be the result of operator error at the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant, and while last year's winter storm caused water system failures statewide, it also exposed issues specific to Austin Water that the utility continues to address.
Improvement plans compiled in the aftermath of both incidents produced nearly 120 formal recommended improvements for Austin Water to take on, and as of this spring, 98 are complete with the rest in progress or nearing completion. Those totals include 68 of 79 recommendations stemming from the winter storm and 30 of 38 from this year's water treatment breakdown.
Austin Water Assistant Director Randi Jenkins told City Council members on the utility's oversight committee May 25 that most of the remaining updates will likely take place over the next several years as part of the department's extended improvement plans.
“Several of the items that are still marked as not complete but certainly on [their] way to being underway are longer-term resiliency improvements, and so those have been noted in our [Capital Improvement Plan] planning efforts and are on the horizon and in our forecast," Jenkins said.
In response to the February failures at Ullrich, Jenkins said Austin Water has enabled external alarm notices for staff and automatic filtering processes that could "kick on" if water quality issues go unchecked. Both employee notification and unchecked water filter blockage were cited as contributing factors to the boil-water notice, as night shift staff ignored alarms and did not report "out of control" water quality readings to their superiors, according to previous reports.
By Sept. 30, Jenkins said the utility expects to complete other actions, including the launch of a recruitment process for 16 additional staff positions that council funded in response to the most recent incident. Other near-term projects include an update to "situational awareness criteria" for employees to follow, winterization of new parts at water treatment plants and the completion of the North Austin Reservoir and Pump Station replacement project.
As part of its work to improve service and communications with the community, Austin Water also continues to roll out its My ATX Water smart meter network citywide. The new digital meters send water data to the utility, and the system also provides residents with instant updates in the case of a leak or major incidents, such as the February notice. Jenkins announced May 25 that Austin Water is more than 20% done with its goal of installing 250,000 of the smart meters by spring 2024.
“We have achieved 50,000-plus meter installations across the city thus far, so that was a big milestone that we were looking to hit," she said. "It’s underway and doing well.”
