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Austin Water finishing new system to help with future extreme flooding events
The new system at the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant will help remove silt from Austin’s water at a faster pace.
AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Water said it is completing a new system at its Ullrich Water Treatment Plant to handle turbidity, or amount of cloudiness in the water, associated with extreme flooding events.
A new polymer chemical feed will help accelerate the process of settling out and removing particles in the water.
Austin Water said that while design and construction of the new system at its largest water treatment facility was underway for the past two years, they had materials on hand so that polymer could be used in the treatment process through a temporary system during an emergency.
Polymer feed systems will also be constructed at Austin Water’s Davis and Handcox treatment plants over the next two years. Materials for temporary feed systems will be on hand in the meantime in case of an emergency.
The development and implementation of the new systems was put into motion following unprecedented flooding of the Colorado River system that washed large amounts of silt into Highland Lakes, Austin’s source for drinking water. The October 2018 flooding left local lakes that are usually clear looking dark brown, Austin Water said.
The turbidity of the water remained at “greatly elevated levels for a long period of time” during the 2018 flood. During that time, Austin’s water treatment plants struggled to remove the high levels of silt and bring turbidity levels down to regulatory standards, leading to a weeklong boil water advisory.
Following the October 2018 flood, Austin water sought out experts to help prepare its facilities to face extreme flooding events in the future. A report released the following year, in October 2019, recommended the development of polymer chemical feed systems to better equip the plants to reduce water turbidity.
“We expect to see extreme flooding events in our watershed more frequently due to the effects of climate change,” said Director Greg Meszaros, Austin Water. “Austin Water is committed to making improvements to our water treatment systems to be prepared to respond to these changing conditions.”
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