AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Water is conducting an emergency drill Wednesday morning at the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant.
This exercise is part of the public utility’s emergency preparedness program that builds on recommendations from recent after-action reviews.
“Austin Water is working to strengthen our emergency protocols and this drill provides an opportunity to practice with our partners to become even more prepared for future emergencies,” Austin Water director Shay Ralls Roalson said.
The drill will last up until noon at the water treatment plant, located at 1000 Forest View Dr, Austin, TX 78746.
Throughout the morning, people in the area will be able to see emergency vehicles from the Austin Fire Department, Travis County ESD #9 and Travis County STAR Flight on this exercise.
This is the same spot where an employee error impacted over a million customers in February of 2022.
This led to a three-day emergency boil water notice that caused chaos all across Austin, as residents and restaurants scrambled to find enough bottled water.
According to Austin Water, a series of staff errors at the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant allowed water into their system that tested beyond regular limits for cloudiness.
This citywide event led to an external audit of the public utility, which made more than 50 recommendations for improvement within Austin Water.
Many of the recommendations revolved around improving preparation for emergencies.
On-sight staff at the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant will participate in the drill to practice their emergency protocols.
Austin Water’s Incident Management Team will conduct a practice activation of the Department Operations Center.
The emergency drill will also allow first responders to practice cross-department communication with Austin Water to work through operational scenarios in order to respond to a potential future emergency.
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