via the City of Georgetown
As of 1:15 a.m. Tuesday, April 26, Georgetown water customers can resume regular water use. City staff were able to make repairs to intake pumps and use regional water supply to get our main water treatment plant back up and running until permanent repairs can be made.
A generator was secured out of an abundance of caution, but wasnβt ultimately needed. The City is currently designing a permanent generator back up at the plant.
The City would like to thank all its water customers, regional partners in Round Rock and Leander, to City staff, and to our electric contractors, T-Morales and Eaton, who helped us through this incident.
Around 9 p.m. Monday, April 25, the City issued an immediate water conservation notice to all water customers (see a map of Georgetownβs water utility here). The water remained safe to drink, but conservation was critical to avoiding boil water notices.
Water customers were asked to limit water use by turning off their irrigation system and limiting residential water use.
The notice was in response to an issue at the Cityβs largest water treatment plant. A fire at a transformer, reported about 7:36 p.m. Monday, caused the pump station and intake pump to go down. There were no injuries.
Staff worked overnight to determine repairs, locating parts, etc., and were prepared to bring in a generator from Dallas. The City has several backup generators, a lesson from Winter Storm Uri, but was unable to use them for this purpose. Intake pumps require specialized equipment and having the ability to rent them quickly also helps meet the Cityβs resiliency requirements and goals.
Staff also worked with regional partners, including the cities of Round Rock and Leander, to ensure we maintained a supply of safe drinking water.
11:20 p.m. update: Answers to questions
-The biggest help to limiting water use is turning off your irrigation systems. Little things will help, too! Like taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet while youβre brushing your teeth, etc.
-We do not plan to ask for or close facilities at this time.
-We are working overnight to determine repairs, locating parts, etc.
-We expect the generator to get here from Dallas in the early morning hours. It will take time to connect it to the pumps. We have several backup generators (lesson from Winter Storm Uri), but we are unable to use them for this purpose. Intake pumps require specialized equipment, and having the ability to rent them quickly also helps meet our resiliency requirements and goals.
-We also are taking water from our amazing partners in Round Rock and Leander. That will help add capacity while repairs are being made.
-This call for limiting water use only applies to City of Georgetown water customers. If you pay the City of Georgetown for water, you are affected. Customers of Jonah SUD and Leander Water (i.e. Livery Ranch) are NOT affected.
-We received the 911 call about the fire at 7:36 p.m. Monday. No one was injured.
9:50PM update: Information about the cause
A fire at a transformer caused the pump station and intake pump to go down. We are working to get a large generator to help and with regional partners to ensure we have a supply of safe drinking water, but we anticipate needing our water customers to continue limiting water use into tomorrow morning.
9:38 p.m., April 25: All Georgetown water customers must immediately limit water use by NOT running your washer, dishwasher, shower, etc.
The water is safe to drink. Conservation is critical to avoid boil water notices.
Turn irrigation systems to the off position.
There is an issue at our main water treatment plant. We are working on repairs, but timeline is unknown right now.
Updates will be posted on City website and social media pages.
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