Leander in Stage 3 water conservation ahead of pipeline repair

LEANDER, Texas - Leander has moved from Stage 2 to Stage 3 water conservation. City officials say there's a leak in the pipeline that takes water from Lake Travis to the water treatment plant that supplies Leander's drinking water.

In Stage 3, residents shouldn't use irrigation systems. Only handheld watering is allowed. Residents should also limit other nonessential uses. This will be in effect until further notice.

"We keep just trying to cut back on everything that would be extra, so really trying to wash the dishes less, wash clothes altogether when we can, not running the water, not watering our lawn," resident Justin Girdler said.

"Cutting back on watering the grass as much and trying to water plants not every day or every day, just like a few times a week," resident Joanna Letts said.

Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority says repairs will be made in the coming weeks.

City officials say water has moved to a different plant with water treatment capacity going from 25 million gallons per day to nine million a day. They say the average water use this month has been six to eight million gallons a day.

"It's kind of annoying, it's just an inconvenience, it comes down to infrastructure, it'd be great to have infrastructure that supported us, but we don't yet, it'd be nice to have someday," Girdler said. 

READ MORE: Leak found in repaired BCRUA pipeline supplying water to Leander

At this week's BCRUA meeting, general manager Karen Bondy said they don't know what caused the leak, and the pipe was even inspected the day before it separated. It will take a few years before a whole new system is in place.

"We're doing all we can to catch any additional problems as early as possible. We also continue to investigate the cause of these problems and identify temporary adjustments we can make to prevent future issues until this section of pipeline can be replaced," Bondy said.

Pipe issues have happened multiple times before.

"It sucks, but it gets better usually. This happens a lot, so most people are used to it," Letts said.

"Any disruption to our system is unacceptable, and the fact that we've had repeated failures on this line is particularly troubling," Bondy said.

"It's probably because it's just growing, and there's more people coming here every week, every day, we have space, but we haven't built it yet, so I think there's just too many people, and not enough water maybe," Letts said.

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