Leander Officials Vouch For Water Quality After Boil Notice

LEANDER, TX — A boil water notice in late July has many residents asking the question: Is city water contaminated? According to city officials, the answer is decidedly no.

In the early morning on July 27, a boil water notice was issued after levels in nearby elevated water storage tanks dropped unexpectedly lower than normal. This drop caused reduced pressures in most of the Vista Ridge Subdivision and Carneros Ranch as water pressures fell below the state required minimum pressure of 35 psi, officials said.

Affected areas in Vista Ridge included streets west of Nogales and Peregrine. Affected areas in the Carneros Ranch subdivision included streets west of the intersection of Pinot Noir Street and Chardonnay Drive.

Because this occurred during the hottest part of a very dry summer period, irrigation units and residents were already accessing the water system, officials noted. These activities quickly compounded the normal demands on our pumps and above water storage tanks, officials added.

Three days after the alert was sent, the boil water notice was canceled.

But concern lingers. In an effort to assuage residents' concerns, city officials said water sample results show no evidence of total coliform or E. coli bacteria contamination in the city's public water system.

Residents' concerns were heightened given computer errors that prevented an immediate fix to the dropped levels. City officials explained that before water levels usually drop to such low levels, computer-generated monitoring systems sends alerts to Public Works staff and automatically activate additional large distribution system pumps to drive water levels back up.

But a computer system error prevented the alerts and automatic fixes from happening.

City officials said Public Works staff solved the problem by making some adjustments the computer-generated monitoring system. In addition, our precautionary boil water notice was extended through July 31 to allow time for the storage tanks and pumps to gradually recover and stabilize during prolonged high water demands into the week, city officials explained.

"No known leaks or other sources of contamination were identified following multiple water sample tests throughout the notice period," officials wrote on the municipal website. "We believe the problems involving sharp drops in water system pressure have been resolved and require no further action."

Despite the fixes and canceled boil water notice, residents still are urged to take action to safeguard their water if they haven't already. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends water customers take a few additional steps once a boil water notice is canceled:

• Flush pipes and faucets. Run cold water faucets continuously for at least five minutes.
• Flush water coolers. Run coolers with direct water connections for five minutes.
• Flush home automatic ice makers. Make three batches of ice cubes and discard all three batches.
• Run water softeners through a regeneration cycle.
• Drain and refill hot water heaters set below 113°F.
• Change all point-of-entry and point-of-use water filters, including those associated with equipment that uses water.

For more information about the city's boil water notice or water system, contact 512-259-2640 during normal business hours from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., or after hours at 512-528-2800. Residents also can sign up to receive alerts by phone, email, or text: http://www.warncentraltexas.org/(link is external).

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