The residents of Lago Vista have been asked to sharply curtail their water use following an issue at one of the city's treatment plants. An Emergency Water Conservation Notice was issued in the early hours of Friday after Water Treatment Plant 3 went offline due to unexpected operational difficulties, as reported by CBS Austin.
Attempts to quickly enact temporary repairs were unsuccessful, leaving the plant inoperative and the notice still in place. The city's directives to limit use to essential activities—drinking, cooking, and basic hygiene—are still to be strictly observed. Non-essentials such as lawn irrigation, car washing, and filling pools or hot tubs should be avoided to conserve the strained water supply, FOX 7 Austin has detailed.
Despite crews working around the clock, severe damage to the plant's 18” water line required more extensive repairs than had been initially estimated. The failure of the temporary fix means that conservation measures are more important than ever to maintain the water supply from becoming critically low. City staff have plans to meet with a contractor to schedule permanent repairs, as noted by CBS Austin.
