City officials found that pipes leading into the Lake Pflugerville pump station were riddled with holes and leaking in early May. The cost to fix the problem could exceed $750,000, Assistant City Manager Tom Word said.

The City Council authorized emergency repairs May 13 to get the station running again. Engineering firm Freese and Nichols repaired the initial damage and is advising the city on next steps.

At the time of the council meeting, repairs to the "pump cans," which resemble large pipes and house a vertical water pump, were only temporary, Word said.

"We have Band-Aided this thing back together," Word said. "If the pump station doesn't work, we have no water to treat."

As a short-term solution, workers clamped metal around the damaged pump cans to stop the leaking. The long-term fix will require new pump cans. The pump station sits beside the Lake Pflugerville dam. All water passing out of Lake Pflugerville to the city's water treatment facility first passes through the pump station. Despite the leak, customers did not lose water.

Workers dug down more than 20 feet and found numerous holes caused by corrosion in three of the pump cans.

Freese Nichols engineers noted the pipes were about nine years old and should normally last a minimum of 20–25 years before such corrosion problems begin to arise.

It is not clear exactly what caused the corrosion. City Council members declared a state of emergency to expedite the repairs at a May 27 meeting. Repairs are expected to be finished by Sept. 1, Word said.