Austin’s Boil Water Notice Is Canceled for the Entire City

Austin’s citywide boil water notice has been canceled for the entire city now.

Early Monday morning, the boil water notice was canceled for Austin Water’s central pressure zone. This expanded into the South, North, and Northwest A zones later that afternoon. This late morning, the Northwest B and C and Southwest A, B, and C zones were added, which comprises the entire city.

Now that the notice has been lifted, people are asked to run all faucets with cold water for one minute before drinking and usage, make and throw out three batches of ice, and run all water softeners through regeneration cycles.

Because there are still many residences and businesses without running water because of broken water pipes, the city has also set up several clean water distribution points. Likewise, many breweries are offering clean refillable water, too.

When the boil water notice was enacted, people had to heat all tap water used for: drinking, cooking, making beverages (i.e. tea and coffee), washing produce and meats, washing dishes, creating ice, washing hands, brushing teeth, and giving to pets. The water must be brought to a rolling boil for at least two minutes and then cooled.

Austin Water had to issue the boil water notice because of a power outage at the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant on Wednesday, February 17. Currently, the water is being tested by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regularly in order to determine if it’s suitable for consumption.

In order to refill Austin’s water reservoirs, which had been depleted during the winter weather crisis, the city is still under a water restriction notice. This means water can’t be used for washing cars (including car washing businesses), filling out pools, watering crops (which would apply to farms), water fountains, and more. This is still active.

Update, Tuesday, February 23, 12:00 p.m.: This article, originally published on Monday, February 22, has been updated to include additional areas where the boil water notice has been lifted.

• Boil Water Notice Lifted for Customers in Austin Water’s Central Pressure Zone [City of Austin]
• Boil Water Notice Map [Austin Water]
• Boil Water Notice and FAQs [City of Austin]
• Austin Issues Boil Water Notice During Winter Storm [EATX]