Steiner Ranch residents have water shut off due to ongoing violations

AUSTIN, Texas - A public utility has revealed that millions of gallons of water in the Austin area continues to be wasted by hundreds of residents in the Steiner Ranch area during drought restrictions.

As a result, Travis County WCID No. 17 filed 232 water shut off work orders for customers who continued to violate Travis County’s Stage Two Water Restrictions.

Travis County WCID No. 17 told FOX 7 Austin water restriction violations have been a huge issue since the start of July. A spokesperson for the utility says more than 1900 violating customers were identified and responsible for nearly 9 million gallons of water waste each week.

As of last week, WCID No. 17 saw a reduction in violators to 500, but the problem remains evident as those 500 violating customers accounted for nearly 4 million gallons of water waste.

WCID No. 17 sent FOX 7 a statement with these details on the violations. A spokesperson also added the following:

"Due to record heat, ongoing drought, and record low inflows into the highland lakes we all are confronted with how to manage a finite supply of potable water. Water conservation measures are critical to help us navigate times like these and unfortunately for some customers that can ultimately result in fines and even having their water shutoff if they refuse to be in compliance with the District’s watering restrictions."

This week, WCID No. 17 issued fines to several hundred customers and 232 water shutoff work orders. This was done to get remaining violators to follow the stage two water restrictions in place including mandatory watering days based on the ending number of a resident’s address.

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WCID No. 17 responded to their decision with, "this process is in compliance with state law and the District’s Service Rules and Policies and has included notice of the possibility that service may be discontinued upon failure to comply with usage restrictions in each of the previous violation notices sent to violating customers."

Unfortunately, the public utility also mistakenly shut off the water of 22 customers who were following stage two water restrictions. Those residents were issued an apology and a credit to their account for the inconvenience.

FOX 7 Austin spoke to one of those customers anonymously who lives in Steiner Ranch. He says the violation notice placed on his door stated he had received previous warnings and this was the final straw. He says it was a shock because this was his first notice from WCID No. 17.

He says it was a five-hour process to get his water back. He also received a fine for $550. He later received an email apologizing for the mistake.

"I hope they take note of this and this is duly accounted for and that they don't do it again," said the resident.

General Manager Jason Homan stated:

"We never enjoy having to take these steps but at the end of the day we here at WCID No.17 are responsible for ensuring a sustainable water supply for all of our customers and we must enforce our conservation restrictions. We are grateful to the 98% of our customers who have abided by the restrictions and are practicing conservation. We encourage the remaining 2% of customers who continue to be in violation to abide by the water restrictions so that we may preserve our most precious resource."

On Sept. 13, WCID No. 17 gave FOX 7 Austin a statement:

"WCID No. 17 is in compliance with Texas state law and not in violation with the Public Utility Commission regarding a notice to issue customers prior to shutting off water service.

Regulations for water utilities to provide a ten-day notice prior to disconnection are applicable to investor-owned utilities and not water districts such as WCID No. 17."