Austin Water crews repair leaking water main, distribute bottled water to residents

Austin Water distributes water during repairs

Austin water crews worked all day on Friday to repair a leaking water main in southwest Austin. The utility set up a water distribution site at Bowie High School for impacted residents.

AUSTIN, Texas - On Friday morning, repairs began on a 48-inch water pipe in southwest Austin.

"We discovered the leak last week, found its location, excavated the pipe to determine what the repair process would need to be, and then planned this work so that we could give our customers as much advance warning as possible," said Shay Ralls Roalson, Director for Austin Water.

Ralls Roalson says the pipe was leaking only a minor amount, but the pipe serves about 50,000 to 60,000 people living in the southwest Austin area, so it was important to get it fixed as soon as possible.

Water distribution during pipeline repair

In the event of a water outage during repair work in southwest Austin on Friday, the city will be handing out water bottles that morning.

The repair is not expected to leave people without water, but it will cause some disruptions.

"Hopefully, if everything goes as planned, we won't have any customer impacts. Some customers may experience lower pressure, but that's why we're asking people to conserve," said Shay Ralls Roalson.

Calls for conservation include turning off irrigation systems, refraining from outdoor water, and holding off on doing laundry and running the dishwasher.

Ralls Roalson says Austin Water has taken precautions before repairs begin, but it is important for the public in the affected area to do their part.

"Before we began the repair, we filled up all our water supply reservoirs, all our tanks in southwest Austin, and so the more people conserve and the lower they reduce their water use, the longer that water will last until we can complete the repair and get back to normal operations," said Ralls Roalson.

As crews worked to repair the leaking pipe, cars pulled up the Bowie High School for water bottle distribution for southwest Austin water customers impacted by the repair.

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