Austin Water review highlights progress, improvements to make after 2022 boil water notice

Editor's note: this story has been revised to reflect the correct number of boil notices the city has issued.

While Austin Water has taken steps to improve its performance in the wake of recent high-profile failures, the city-owned utility still has a number of structural and management issues that need to be addressed, especially at the city's Ullrich Water Treatment Plant, according to an external review.

The review, conducted by the University of Texas Center for Water and the Environment and released by the city on Wednesday, identified more than 50 recommended improvements for Austin Water, which serves more than 1 million customers and has an annual operating budget of $654 million.

The review was commissioned by the Austin City Council nearly a year ago, shortly after Austin Water customers were subjected to a three-day boil water notice in February 2022. At the time, Austin Water officials said human error at the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant — the largest of the three city-owned water treatment plants — allowed water into the system that tested beyond regulatory limits for turbidity, or cloudiness.

Walking on water?: Austin taking steps to store surplus underground for future drought

Greg Meszaros, the long-time director for the utility, announced his resignation shortly after.

The February 2022 boil water notice was the latest in a string of issues for Austin Water since 2018 that resulted in significant water service interruptions or created concerns related to the quality and aesthetics of water delivered to customers, drawing criticism from many in the community.

The February 2022 incident was the third major water boil notice in as many years, not including a separate incident in 2019 when water for some residents was drinkable but had a foul, fishy odor due to the presence of dead zebra mussels. A fifth incident, in which fire foam entered the distribution system, was not associated with the operations of any of the plants, according to the review.

The council ordered an external audit of the utility to get a better look at the challenges and issues the department was facing, and to reduce the need for the boil water notices.

More:Reason for Austin's latest water woes remains cloudy as boil order lifted

The external review found that the water quality issues it studied "cannot be attributed to a single cause and were not all specific to" the Ullrich plant, and it also found that Austin Water has taken steps since February 2022 to address some issues. "The corrective actions ... are improving flood preparedness, power backup alternatives and control of zebra mussels," the report states, but it also found that "a number of barriers remain that hinder (the Ullrich plant's) ability to consistently deliver high quality water to the City of Austin in the future and during extreme events."

The report said the issues that need work include "organizational conditions that include structure and management, human resources, communication (internal and external to Austin Water) and capital improvement processes. These limitations directly affect the plant’s ability to respond effectively to emergencies; maintain and upgrade infrastructure; prepare for emerging potential source water quality issues; and recruit, train and retain staff. Several issues are not under the control of Austin Water and must be addressed at the city level."

In December, the city announced that it had hired Shay Ralls Roalson as the new director of Austin Water.

In a written statement Wednesday, Roalson said: “Austin Water has been and continues to be an industry leader serving customers for more than 100 years. We have a dedicated workforce that strives to provide excellent and reliable service for our community, and we have all been discouraged by recent water quality events.”

City Council Member Alison Alter, who authored the resolution calling for the external review of Austin Water, said Wednesday that the report was an important step toward rebuilding trust between the community and the utility, and said it is crucial that the city remain transparent as the recommendations are implemented. 

“My hope is that our utility will embrace new approaches to stewarding our resources and managing our emergency response systems,” Alter said in a written statement. “Austin can serve as an example for other cities and utilities grappling with water quality and supply issues brought on by the climate crisis, but that starts with transparency and accountability.”

The external review makes 53 recommendations for improving operations and resiliency at the Ullrich plant, and Austin Water agrees or partially agrees with 49 of those recommendations, city officials said. They said work on 19 of the recommendations has already begun.

Of highest priority, the report said, is hiring and retaining staff members at base levels. That is needed to facilitate many of the other organizational and managerial challenges at Ullrich plant, according to the report.

“The most pressing resiliency gap is that the organization lacks the staffing capacity to handle extraordinary impending, immediate, and ongoing events,” the report states. “This overarching need is essential for the success of other recommendations that relate to staff training, scenario planning and infrastructure stress testing, increased preventive maintenance, improved accessibility to standard and emergency operating procedures, watershed management planning, and improved power resiliency.”

Meszaros, the utility's former director, cited similar concerns about Austin Water's staffing when he resigned, citing "enormous" turnover and a lack of longtime operators with decades of experience.

Roalson said the external review has provided a road map to help the utility restore trust with the community and strengthen its staffing.

“I am committed to working through these recommendations and will share our implementation progress with the Austin Water Oversight Committee on Feb. 15,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin Water makes progress, but gets 50 ways to improve in new review