AUSTIN, Texas -- Austin Water's precautionary boil water notice became mandatory Wednesday morning when a water quality test failed to meet state standards.
- Water test failed Tuesday
- Boil Water Notice became mandatory
- Samsung plans to reduce water use by 10 percent
Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros said the water was cloudier than the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality allows, a measurement known as turbidity.
"The lower your turbidity, the less likely you are going to have [harmful bacteria, viruses and microorganisms in the water]," he said. "As our turbidity bumps up, that's the risk that we are managing. Boiling your water kills everything."
Austin Water said its ability to disinfect the water has remained strong the entire past week, so all tests for harmful pathogens have come back negative. Independent water tests by Spectrum News have also returned negative results thus far.
Wednesday, Austin Water opened its temporary 24-hour operations center to local media. The converted conference room is in addition to the city and county's joint emergency operations center in East Austin.
The biggest problem remains demand outpacing supply, Meszaros said. While the utility made great strides Tuesday night to fill some of its water towers and other reservoirs, he said those gains were beginning to be erased at points Wednesday afternoon.
The plant having the most trouble is the Ulrich Water Treatment Plant serving South Austin, which failed the water quality test Tuesday night.
"Whenever we try to bump up above a certain amount of water coming out of that plant, water quality starts to break down," Meszaros said. "That is one of the puzzles we are trying to solve, which is how do we get Ulrich back up to its old self."
While Austin leaders have called on residents to curtail water use and prohibited outdoor watering during the boil water notice, the city said it had not asked the same of its business community.
However, Samsung sent the following letter Wednesday afternoon to the Mayor and City Council.
"Samsung Austin Semiconductor recognizes the urgency of the situation our community is facing this week and we have been working closely with Austin Water officials since Sunday on ways to reduce our daily water consumption as well as provide feedback on the water quality in their distribution system.
"Since Sunday, our engineers have worked to identify opportunities for emergency onsite water reduction. Through their efforts, Samsung Austin Semiconductor will account for a potential 10 percent reduction in site water usage by the end of the week. Our efforts have been focused on implementing operational changes and temporary system shut downs throughout our entire campus.
"Samsung Austin Semiconductor cares about the Central Texas community, our employees and fellow citizens. These actions are above and beyond our normal efforts to protect and recycle our natural resources. Samsung Austin Semiconductor currently recycles over 2,500,000 gallons of water per day, recycles >96% of the waste we produce, and we are a 100% renewable energy facility. In addition we are diligently working towards achieving a 'Virtually Zero' waste management goal by 2020. Visit our website for more information on our sustainability efforts.
"Samsung Austin Semiconductor will remain committed to doing our part to help ensure that our community gets through this situation as quickly as possible."