Austin Water external audit findings released

The findings have been presented to Austin City Council members. It comes after the City of Austin was put under a boil water notice in February 2022 due to human error. FOX 7 Austin's Amanda Ruiz has details.

AUSTIN, Texas - The findings of an external audit of Austin Water include hiring more employees and providing better training to avoid another major incident from occurring. This comes after the City of Austin was put under a boil water notice after a human error in February 2022.

"Austinites deserve safe and reliable drinking water," said Alison Alter, City of Austin District 10.

Wednesday at the Austin Audit And Finance Committee Meeting, members were presented the findings of an external audit review done on Austin Water by UT Austin. This comes after the three-day citywide boil water notice in February 2022 which was the fifth major incident for Austin Water between 2018-2022.

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"I felt it was important to have an external review of these recent water service interruptions in our community to identify what went wrong, how to prevent future failure, and how to improve the overall resilience and functioning of our water system," said Alter.

The audit focused on the Ullrich Water Plant which is one of three for Austin Water and the plant responsible for the 2022 boil water notice after an employee made a mistake.

"At that plant we know that we are capable of producing high quality water that meets the needs almost all the time. But there are exceptions and extreme events. And so that was the area that we had some recommendations related to staffing organization, things to better maintain the plant and make sure that the plant is able to respond in extreme situations," said Corrie Stokes, City of Austin Auditor.

Austin Water releases details of internal investigation into February’s boil water notice

Austin Water has released a memo detailing the results of an internal investigation into the events leading up to February’s citywide boil water notice.

The audit produced over 50 recommendations to Austin Water to prevent another incident from occurring again.

Select Organizational structure recommendations:

Address organizational structure issues by establishing clear lines of supervision and reporting expectations
Provide greater emphasis on documentation, training and team building
Address issues of attrition and retention through partnerships, educational programs, increasing compensation and career advancement opportunities
Provide greater engagement of plant staff in asset management, operational procedures and emerging issues in water treatment.

Select Emergency management recommendations:

Recruit and retain skilled workforce across organization to ensure adequate emergency response and preparedness
Training is needed for plant specific processes, emergency management software, and scenario exercises
Establish, document, communicate and continually reinforce notification thresholds for escalation of emergent events
Reduce span of control at the plants during emergency events

"We are a learning organization and we are already working on many of these recommendations. We want to reinforce areas where we're strong and when we want to strengthen areas that need it," said Shay Ralls Roalson, Austin Water Director.

Austin Water is now expected to present an implementation plan with these recommendations in February.

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