AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin City Council unanimously approved an independent, external audit of Austin Water following the recent citywide boil water notice.
The move comes after the city's third boil water notice since 2018, the city's fifth incident with water quality and supply in recent years as well as the resignation of Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros and three employees being placed on leave.
“Our community expects and deserves better,” Alter said. “We need more substantive answers from the utility about what happened. This audit will allow us to look at our water utility issues more systemically and take actions to prevent further disruptions.”
The resolution approved by the council directs the city manager to procure an external audit of Austin's water utility to review the five recent water quality events and service interruptions. The review will include an investigation of Austin Water's overall management, including emergency preparedness.
It will also compare Austin Water policies to national best practices and investigate the timeline for each water event, detailing public communications and evaluating whether any of the incidents endangered public health.
“In the wake of the most recent boil water notice, Council members and the community have raised some important questions,” said Council Member Kathie Tovo. “Coupled with the Council discussions that have and will continue to take place, an independent audit by professionals with expertise in this industry will offer an important analysis about current and future utility operations.”
The recent incident left the city under a boil water notice for three days due to an internal operation issue that led to high turbidity, or cloudiness, in the water. The notice was announced the evening of Feb. 5 and was lifted Feb. 8. Austin Water reportedly learned about the water issue Saturday morning, but waited nearly 12 hours before issuing the alert.
Meszaros resigned as head of Austin Water days after the notice was lifted. Three employees were also placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the incident. Meszaros led the department for 15 years and has been working with the City on the incident.
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