Water utility says preparations are in place following 2021 winter storm
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- As this week's frigid temperatures wrap their cold boney fingers around Central Texas, many locals are worried about one thing: water.
During the winter storm in 2021, Austin Water reported 381 water line repairs, 1,500 customers requested an emergency water shut off following a burst pipe and 1,200 work orders were completed in just 10 days.
"It's very scary, I have a family of five so it feels a little nerve wracking to have to deal with this," said Jill Price, an Austin resident who lost water, in a 2021 interview with KXAN.
Meanwhile power loss led to one of the water treatment plants shutting down. This led to a boil water notice being issued for the people who still had water.
Addressing water issues
In the four years since that traumatic time, Austin Water said they've taken step to prevent it from happening again.
"[We have] weatherization checklists and freeze protection checklists that we use to make sure that that our critical infrastructure is ready to go," said Operations Manager for Water Treatment Stephanie Sue.
Sue said the team has been working to address power outages as well. "We've been also working a lot with Austin Energy to improve the resiliency and redundancy of the power systems that power our critical facilities."
The utility has purchased smaller generators for their remote facilities. This has been done to ensure that if they do lose power, there will not be any interruptions to service.
Communication complications
According to Austin Water's 2021 Winter Storm After Action Report, communication was a major issue due to the number of calls the utility received.
"The majority of customer calls were not received between February 17 to 19," according to the report.
Sue said that this also has been addressed, and new protocols have been put into place.
"[These will] allow us to deploy resources really quickly, as well as effectively communicate internally and externally with the our customers if we find ourselves in an emergency situation," she said.