TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas -- The Lago Vista city manager declared a stage five emergency water condition restriction Saturday, limiting outdoor water use for families and businesses in the area.
According to the City of Lago Vista, the restriction is due to a failure of one of the city's water treatment plants on May 22. Officials said Plant #1 experienced a power surge that affected the raw water intake. It left two of the city's pumps inoperable, and one pump is only able to work at half of its capacity.
"We suspect what caused the problem was an electrical surge that basically affected plant and our real water intake," said city engineer Eric Belaj.
Under this restriction, Lago Vista water users are only restricted from outdoor water use. These restrictions include hand-watering, washing or rinsing buildings or paved areas.
City officials said backup pumps are running to keep the water going, and it's being treated at a second treatment facility.
Tuesday, the city said Smith Pumps Company is in the process of removing the two inoperable pumps from the bottom of Lake Travis for repairs.
Belaj said he cannot remember the last time Lago Vista was in a stage five restriction.
"It's been quite a while," he said. "This is one emergency that I don't think has ever happened in the history of the city."
But the city said the incident is something that they anticipate.
"The City regularly plans for these unusual events and purposefully maintains a reserve of water to avoid a complete outage," the City of Lago Vista said in a statement.
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The City said they hope to have a large portion of the issue resolved by Thursday, June 28. After the two inoperable pumps are reinstalled, Lago Vista officials said they will begin repairs on the pump that has been working at half capacity. That pump is expected to be operational after the July 4 weekend.
The City said they are aiming to lift the stage 5 water restrictions the weekend of June 30.
For updates on this situation, check out the Lago Vista Facebook page or click here.