Austin’s water crisis could last two weeks

Costco employee Judy Gonzalez in Austin loads bottles of drinking water for a customer Tuesday after a citywide boil notice was issued. Flooding from heavy rains has caused silt to enter the city’s water supply.

AUSTIN — Nearly 900,000 people in Texas’ capital may have to boil their tap water for two weeks, an official said Tuesday, as authorities struggled to treat a water supply filled with silt, mud and debris after recent heavy rains and flooding.

Austin’s mayor subsequently suggested that the situation may be under control faster, however, and could be resolved within a “handful of days.”

The Austin American-Statesman reports that Travis County Chief Emergency Management Coordinator Eric Carter told a county commissioners court meeting that 888,000 people may have to wait 10 to 14 days for the system to settle.

On Monday, the city told 1 million-plus residents to boil water for drinking, cooking and making ice. Officials are also urging drastic reductions in water use and banning outdoor watering, car washing and using water to fill pools and spas.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler

tweeted Tuesday that officials do “not anticipate our water issues to last beyond a handful of days” depending on consumption rates. The city suggested that calls to conserve water were working.

There has been no indication of bacterial infiltration. But Austin Water warned that insufficiently treated water could contain bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches and other illness. It said infants, young children, some of the elderly and people with severely compromised immune systems would be at risk.

The boil-water notice has prompted a rush on grocery and convenience stores where shelves previously filled with bottled water stand empty. Some restaurants closed, while school districts modified their menus to make it easier to use boiled water.

Neighboring Williamson County declared its own emergency Tuesday, allowing officials to create a distribution point for providing potable water to about 80,000 people in its territory affected by Austin’s boil water notice and to help affected schools.

Jay Janner / Austin American-Statesman via AP

Jay Janner / Associated Press Barton Creek meets the dirty waters of the rain-swollen Lady Bird Lake in Austin on Tuesday. Recent floods have caused a citywide boil-water notice.

Jay Janner / Associated Press Customers get water bottles at Costco in southwest Austin during a citywide boil water notice caused by flooding. Estimates of the time run from a handful of days to two weeks.