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Water restrictions in Leander due to pipeline project

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Published  February 12, 2024 4:13pm CST
Leander
FOX 7 Austin

Leander water restrictions underway

The water in Leander is flowing, but as of Monday, Feb. 12, the amount has to be scaled back. The city is under a Stage 4 water restriction.

LEANDER, Texas - The water in Leander is flowing, but as of Monday, Feb. 12, the amount has to be scaled back.

Stage 4 water restriction notices are up, and notification calls are going out.

"The City of Leander prohibits all outdoor water beginning Monday, Feb 12.," stated a recording sent to FOX 7 Austin.

Leander residents like Connie Long are getting the message.

"Conserve, conserve, conserve. As much as you can, we need that water," said Long.

The Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority, a major water supplier for Leander, is the reason for the conservation order. The utility has had some recent bad luck.

Last year, a crack on the intake valve caused a supply scare. Now, the utility needs to replace a big segment of pipeline to its water treatment plant. The goal of the stage 4 order,  according to the city, is to reduce demand from 24 million gallons of water a day, to just nine.

"If we exceed that nine, we risk potentially losing water pressure in our system going into a boil water notice. We really don't want to get to that point," said Leander City Chief of Staff Mike Neu.

Leander water restrictions

The City of Leander says its primary source of potable water will be shut down while a pipeline is being replaced. This shut down will significantly reduce the city's overall water capacity.

The order not only turns off irrigation systems, but there is also no watering by hand. That includes giving potted houseplants a drink.

"Now, we do make an exception for essentials, what we consider essential uses. If it is a vegetable garden and folks who are eating those plants, we will make an exception for that. But we really want to limit all outdoor watering, so it would be prohibited in this phase," said Neu. 

Other exceptions include owners of commercial sites, like car washes, restaurants and laundromats. They are only being asked to be water wise.

"We're not putting those kinds of restrictions on our businesses," said Neu.

The order does not include the city-owned golf course.

"Our golf course runs on a reclaimed water system. It's connected to a wastewater treatment plant in Treviso subdivision year round. We're watering those greens and those areas of our golf course with reclaimed water. So no change to our golf course," said Neu.  

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For local garden centers, a stage 4 order right before spring is expected to hurt sales. Kevin Barry, owner of Barryhill Garden Center, offered this advice regarding yards: "don't use quick release fertilizers, they will burn up your grass without water."

"So what you will want to do is something that is time released, over about 90 days, something like that, something organic. Microlife you could use, there are a couple of different products you can use for that," said Barry.

Leander city officials understand the timing is tough with spring so close. The project's late start was also a supply problem. The materials for the pipeline job didn't start arriving until December 2023, and FOX 7 Austin was told a lot of setup work had to be done before digging could start.

The pipeline project is expected to take until early April to complete. Residents who violate the conservation order will get only one warning. 

"And if we see subsequent violations, there could be penalties up to $1,000 per violation," said Neu.

The stage 4 order could be scaled back if the pipeline project wraps up earlier than expected.