Austin, Texas Water Outage Today

Who runs the water in Austin: system profile

City of Austin Water & Wastewater is the water system EPA lists for Austin, serving about 1,115,323 people. Customers know it as Austin Water; the name on your bill is the one to call.

What feeds the taps in Austin

Austin drinks surface water. City of Austin Water & Wastewater draws it from 4 - Handcox Swtp / Lake Travis, 2 - Davis Swtp, and 3 - Ullrich Swtp and treats it before it goes into the distribution system. Treatment points named in EPA's facility list include Swtp - Ullrich WTP, Swtp - Handcox WTP / 6800 Rr 620, and Swtp - Davis WTP. After treatment the water is held in 37 storage tanks and reservoirs and pushed uphill by 125 pump facilities; that storage is the buffer that keeps taps running for a few hours after a pump or main fails.

The outage angle. A surface-water system depends on its plant staying online. If the plant, the raw-water pumps or the power feeding them fails, pressure can fall across the entire service area at once, and a precautionary boil notice tends to cover whole zones rather than the single street of a main break.

Why the water goes out in Austin

These are the causes that match the record for Austin, listed roughly in order of how much they matter here.

• Summer demand. Austin has about 84 days a year at or above 95°F and 42 at or above 100°F, and the hottest day in the record came on July 23, 2018. Lawn irrigation and cooling push demand to its yearly high, so pumps run hard, tanks drain faster than they refill and pressure sags on high ground in the evening.
• Flooding and heavy rain. NOAA logged 115 flood, flash flood and heavy rain reports in Travis County from 2015 through 2026, and 6 days a year bring an inch of rain or more. High water can wash out the ground under buried pipe, flood pump stations and push treatment plants past their limits, which is why boil notices so often follow a flood.
• Freezing weather. Austin sees about 15 days a year with a low at or below 32°F, and 1 day at or below 20°F. The coldest morning in the 2015 through 2025 record came on February 16, 2021. The longest stretch with highs that never rose above freezing ran 4 days, ending February 16, 2021. Frost pushes into shallow service lines first. Mains follow when the ground heaves and thaws, which is why break counts climb a day or two after the temperature swings.
• Storm-driven power loss. Thunderstorm wind, hail and tornado reports in Travis County number 295 since 2015. Pump stations and treatment plants that depend on Austin Energy run on the electric grid, so a storm that downs power lines can lower water pressure even when no pipe is damaged.
• Long dry spells. The longest stretch without measurable rain since 2015 lasted 40 days, ending August 11, 2015. Dry soil shrinks and shifts around buried pipe, and breaks often cluster when the rain returns and the ground swells again.
• Younger pipe, different risks. Only 15% of occupied homes in Austin predate 1970 (US 35.5%), so more of the network is newer plastic or ductile iron. Breaks tend to come from construction damage, pressure surges and weather rather than age.

How weather strains the Austin water system

Main break season in Austin runs from late fall into early spring, with the coldest stretch around December through February.

The figures are reanalysis estimates for the center of Austin, not readings from a single weather station, so treat them as a guide to how often each kind of weather occurs rather than as official records.

Is Austin water safe? Boil notices and EPA record

EPA lists 5 health-based violations for City of Austin Water & Wastewater since 2015.

Most recent health-based entries:

• February 2022: A single turbidity (cloudiness) reading above the limit in treated water It is marked resolved.
• October 2018: Treated water above the monthly turbidity limit It is marked resolved.
• October 2018: A single turbidity (cloudiness) reading above the limit in treated water It is marked resolved.

A boil water notice in Austin is a separate thing from a violation. Austin Water issues one when pressure falls low enough for contamination to enter the pipes, after a main break is repaired, or when a routine test comes back positive. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) oversees the process, and the notice stays until clean samples come back, usually a day or two after pressure returns.

Lead service lines and old plumbing in Austin

The most recent 90th-percentile lead result filed for City of Austin Water & Wastewater is 0 ppb (2024). The federal action level is 15 ppb, so that result is far from the limit.

15% of occupied homes in Austin were built before 1970, and lead service lines and solder stayed legal until the federal ban in 1986. After any outage that disturbs the pipes, run the cold tap 30 seconds to 2 minutes before drinking, and ask Austin Water about its lead service line inventory.

When will the water come back on in Austin?

A crew that arrives at an ordinary main break in Austin usually needs 4 to 8 hours to isolate the pipe, dig, repair, flush and restore pressure. Large transmission mains, deep pipes and breaks under busy streets can take a day or more. With 1,115,323 people on the system, a break on a main that feeds a whole district can leave thousands of homes dry at once, and crews may close valves several blocks away to isolate it.

Ask Austin Water for a restoration estimate when you report the outage; for large breaks it is normally posted and updated as the repair progresses.

Preparing for a long water outage in Austin

With about 2.1 people in the typical Austin home, FEMA's one-gallon-per-person-per-day rule means 6 gallons covers three days and 30 gallons covers two weeks.

• Heat: 84 days a year top 95°F here, so plan for more than the one-gallon minimum, and keep extra for pets.
• 26.1% of homes are in buildings with 20 or more units. Upper floors lose pressure first, and rooftop tanks and booster pumps depend on building power.
• 56.6% of households rent. Tell your landlord or property manager about a leak or outage right away, since the shutoff valve may be theirs.
• Do not forget the water heater: the tank holds roughly 30 to 50 gallons you can drink after it is switched off and allowed to cool.
• If a planned shutoff or storm is coming, fill the tub and some buckets for flushing toilets and washing; keep drinking water in clean sealed containers.

Water systems near Austin, side by side

Water outage pages for nearby cities

Round Rock, TX · San Antonio, TX · Houston, TX · Fort Worth, TX