AUSTIN, Texas _ Silt and debris from floodwaters have overwhelmed Austin's ability to produce clean water, prompting an unprecedented citywide alert Monday that urged residents to avoid drinking tap water without boiling it first.
By Monday evening, the situation led to a run on bottled water supplies at grocery stores throughout the region _ and appeared to be worsening. City officials warned that water use was outpacing the amount of water being treated, and that residents needed to cut their personal water use by 15 percent to 20 percent to keep the city from running out of water altogether.
Austin Water, the city's water utility, is restricting nearly all outdoor water use, including irrigation, washing vehicles and adding water to pools. The utility wants to make sure an adequate supply is in place for firefighters and essential water use.
"Austin water treatment plants can currently produce 105 million gallons of water per day. Current customer use is about 120 million gallons per day," officials said. "Water reservoir levels are reaching minimal levels."
Austin Water on Sunday already called on its customers to limit their water use by taking short showers and refraining from doing laundry until absolutely necessary. Officials said water flowing into the city's water system from supply lakes upriver wasn't meeting treatment requirements for consumption.
"Anyone who's seen the water running through Lady Bird Lake can see how muddy it is," said Austin Mayor Steve Adler. "The good thing is that we can continue with most of our daily routines _ like showering, hand washing and laundry _ but we all need to do our part to conserve where we can, and boil the tap water we consume."
City leaders asked all Austin Water customers to take the following steps:
_ Reduce water use as much as possible to ensure adequate supply for basic needs, fire protection, public health and safety.
_ Boil drinking water. To ensure destruction of all harmful bacteria and other microbes, water for drinking, cooking and for making ice should be boiled and cooled. The water should be brought to a rolling boil for three minutes.
_ Businesses should not use drinking fountains or soda fountains that rely on tap water.
Even if you have your own water filtration device in your kitchen, you should still boil your drinking water, Austin Water director Greg Meszaros said.
Officials said inadequately treated water could contain bacteria, viruses and parasites that can cause nausea, diarrhea, cramps or headaches. Those with compromised immune systems and young children are at greater risk. So far, Austin's water had not tested positive for bacterial infection, officials said.
Austin Water said it would notify residents when the water is safe for consumption and when it is no longer necessary to boil the water. By Monday evening, Austin Water still couldn't say when that might be.
Austin Water customers include residents in Austin, Sunset Valley, Rollingwood and West Lake Hills. Travis County Water District 10 customers also are included in Austin's boil notice.
Local governments near Austin but outside of Austin Water's service area _ including Pflugerville in Travis County, Cedar Park in Williamson County and Kyle in Hays County _ said they have a separate system, and their water is safe to consume.
Still, residents in those areas reported water flying off the shelves as Austinites fanned out to stock up.
Kristen Flotten, manager at a Royal Blue Grocery, said people started lining up just after the store opened at 7 a.m.
All bottled water had gone out the front door, prompting Flotten to order double the supply from her distributors.
"We've been ordering like crazy for more water to come in by tomorrow," she said.
