Latest / Austin Signal / Waterline breaks prompt Pflugerville officials to call for conservation measures

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Waterline breaks prompt Pflugerville officials to call for conservation measures · Austin Signal

0:08
Lake Pflugerville's water levels
0:10
remain low after a series of water
0:12
line breaks, the most recent of
0:13
which was fixed on Wednesday.
0:16
Local officials have issued water
0:17
conservation calls while the
0:18
man-made lake gets back to normal
0:20
levels.
0:21
We're going to have more about those
0:23
water issues coming up on today's
0:25
show.
0:25
The Austin Signal is a production
0:27
of KUT News, hosted by
0:29
Jerry Quijano.
0:30
Libraries are havens for many
0:32
Texans, especially those living in
0:34
rural areas further away from
0:36
resources like health care.
0:38
It's part of the reason one
0:38
nonprofit is now providing mental
0:40
health resources in some central
0:42
Texas libraries.
0:43
Come hear about the work they're
0:45
doing and it's gonna be a busy
0:46
weekend for Austin sports fans,
0:49
Texas men's and women's basketball.
0:51
Plus Austin FC prepares for
0:52
a home clash with the familiar
0:54
foe.
0:55
We've got all of that coming up next
0:57
here on Austin Signal.
1:08
Howdy out there, you are tuned in
1:10
to Austin Signal.
1:12
Thank you for spending part of
1:14
your Friday here with us.
1:15
It's March 20th.
1:17
I'm your host, Jerry Kehannel.
1:18
Thank you tuning in to Community
1:21
Powered Public Radio.
1:23
Water is flowing into Lake
1:25
Pflugerville again after another
1:27
water line break was addressed this
1:28
week. It's the fifth such break
1:31
in the water line over the past
1:32
seven months, and as a result,
1:34
water levels in the lake remain
1:35
seriously depleted.
1:37
For more about this story, we are
1:39
joined by Katie McAfee.
1:41
She's KUT's Travis County reporter,
1:43
and she's been following this story.
1:44
Hiya, Katie.
1:45
Hey Jerry, thanks for having me.
1:46
So let's talk about this
1:48
water line. This most recent one was
1:50
the fifth one.
1:51
What happened with the four that
1:52
came before this one?
1:53
Yeah, so the first break
1:55
started in September of
1:57
2025. So this has kind of been going
1:59
on for a while.
1:59
Mm-hmm.
2:00
Um, that break was,
2:02
according to city officials,
2:04
relatively simple to
2:06
fix.
2:07
They fixed that one.
2:09
Things are kind of going back to
2:10
normal.
2:11
Then break two happens a few months
2:13
later in November.
2:15
Same situation, relatively
2:17
easy to fix fast
2:19
forward to January.
2:21
There's a third break once
2:23
again, relatively to fix
2:25
Okay, I've seen a pattern.
2:27
Yes, until
2:29
a fourth break happens in
2:31
February, and this is where things
2:33
really take a turn.
2:34
OK, and what happened with that one?
2:36
So, February 6th,
2:39
the city realizes that there
2:40
is another main break in
2:42
their waterline.
2:44
And this break is not easy
2:46
to find at all.
2:47
It takes them more than 10 days
2:49
to locate where this break is
2:50
because it turns out it's 20 feet
2:52
below ground.
2:54
They have to get divers involved.
2:55
They have to excavate.
2:57
And once they find the break,
2:59
it's also difficult for them
3:01
to repair.
3:02
And it took them another couple
3:04
weeks before they were able to
3:06
install a bypass line.
3:08
So water was flowing back into Lake
3:10
Pflugerville.
3:10
And by that time, hundreds
3:13
of millions of gallons of water
3:15
were lost in the lake.
3:16
So it sounds like the fourth one was
3:18
the most severe one until
3:20
this fifth one or what was the
3:22
status of this fifth?
3:23
Yeah, that's right.
3:24
So the fifth break happened on
3:25
Tuesday.
3:27
City officials said that was kind of
3:28
like the first three, relatively
3:30
simple to find and easily accessible
3:32
and they had finished that one by
3:35
Wednesday evening.
3:36
Okay, for our listener who might not
3:37
be familiar with Lake Flugerville,
3:40
how do they get water there?
3:41
So Lake Pflugerville is a
3:43
man-made lake and
3:45
the water that's in there, it was
3:47
made to be a reservoir.
3:49
People do recreational stuff there
3:51
now, but it is primarily a reservoir
3:52
and the Water that is in that lake
3:54
is entirely from
3:56
the Colorado River.
3:57
So they have this, you know, big
3:58
long pipe that pumps water from
4:00
the Colorado River all the way to
4:02
Lake Pflugerville.
4:02
And because it's human made,
4:05
it doesn't like water won't flow
4:06
into it when there's a lot of
4:08
rainfall or anything like that.
4:09
Like it's.
4:10
Just though it's just the rain
4:11
that's gonna fall directly on top of
4:12
it. Yeah, exactly.
4:14
Mm-hmm that water that is
4:16
in Lake, Pflugerville who uses that
4:18
water?
4:18
Yeah, so most of the city of
4:20
Pflugerville is
4:22
using water from Lake Pfluggerville.
4:23
And most of the city then
4:25
is facing some sort of water
4:27
restrictions that have been put in
4:29
place. What is the status there?
4:30
Yeah, that's right.
4:31
So since hundreds of millions of
4:33
gallons of water were lost,
4:35
kind of what happened was after the
4:38
fourth break, the city realized
4:40
that they had lost a lot of water.
4:42
At first, they didn't realize how
4:44
bad the situation was.
4:45
So on March 1st, they said, hey,
4:47
we're just going to move to stage
4:48
one water restrictions,
4:50
which limits customers to
4:52
outdoor watering one day week.
4:54
Then they got a report back and
4:56
realized how significant the
4:58
water loss was and on March 4th,
5:01
they were like, hey guys, we need
5:03
to move all the way to stage three,
5:05
which is way more restrictive.
5:07
So under stage three restrictions,
5:09
customers are not allowed to water
5:10
outside at all.
5:11
The only exception is to water the
5:13
foundation of someone's home
5:15
to prevent cracking.
5:17
And they're also beyond that
5:19
asking that people conserve water
5:22
in other ways.
5:23
They're asking people do less
5:24
cycles of laundry, less cycles
5:26
running the dishwasher a little bit
5:28
less, taking shorter showers,
5:31
even collecting rainwater or
5:33
collecting water used after washing
5:35
your hands, things like that.
5:37
So pretty restrictive, and
5:39
these are going to stay in place for
5:41
probably a while because they have
5:43
so much water to recover.
5:44
Right now the
5:47
lake is at 17 feet
5:49
deep And city officials say
5:51
they have to keep these stage three
5:52
restrictions until the lake gets to
5:54
19 feet deep
5:56
I know that's only that's, only two
5:58
feet. So it doesn't sound
5:59
Seemed like a lie, yeah?
6:00
It might not seem like a lot, but it
6:02
accounts for, you know, hundreds of
6:03
millions of gallons of water and
6:05
city officials estimate that it
6:07
could take two months ish,
6:09
but really just depends on
6:11
how well the city conserves that
6:13
water.
6:14
This is the fifth water line break
6:15
in about seven months.
6:17
Is there a reason these keep
6:18
happening?
6:19
Right now, I don't know.
6:21
When I was reporting this story, the
6:23
city didn't open up
6:25
interviews for any reporters because
6:26
they said all hands are on deck.
6:28
Everyone's completely focused on
6:29
handling the water situation right
6:30
now.
6:31
But there is a lot of questions that
6:33
we haven't answered that I want to
6:34
keep pursuing.
6:36
I haven't talked with an engineer
6:38
who can walk me through why breaks
6:40
one through five happened, if the
6:41
system is still vulnerable to more
6:43
breaks.
6:44
But those are things that I
6:46
definitely am looking forward to
6:47
talking to some experts about and
6:49
doing another story on
6:50
All right, that is KUT's Katie
6:51
McAfee. She is our Travis County
6:53
reporter.
6:54
We're gonna have a link to her story
6:55
in today's show notes and at kut.org
6:58
slash signal.
6:59
Katie, thanks for coming back.
7:08
As you drive beyond Austin into the
7:10
rural areas of central Texas,
7:13
access to health care can be sparse,
7:14
and that includes mental health
7:16
support.
7:17
That's why a local nonprofit had the
7:19
idea to place mental health
7:20
resources in a trusted community
7:22
center that many rural folks can
7:24
already access for free.
7:26
That's the library.
7:28
KUT's Olivia Aldridge reports
7:30
from Smithville.
7:32
Okay, take an inhale and exhale
7:33
here.
7:38
It's just a regular Wednesday at
7:40
the Smithville Public Library,
7:41
and that means there's a lot going
7:43
on.
7:44
In the back room, around a dozen
7:46
women, some fairly young, some
7:48
well into their golden years,
7:50
are gathered on folding chairs,
7:51
stretching their arms and legs into
7:53
careful poses.
7:54
Hold it here with your hands
7:56
or you can just choose to just
7:58
let it hang right there
8:03
Cheryl McNeil says it was a
8:05
game-changer when the library
8:06
started offering these free chair
8:08
yoga classes.
8:09
She would have had to drive to
8:11
Bastrop for something like this
8:12
before.
8:13
It's really good.
8:14
I just needed to get moving and
8:16
stretching and I hadn't
8:18
been doing all that, so.
8:20
There's a second group of women
8:21
sitting behind the yogis,
8:23
knitting hats for local veterans who
8:25
are going through chemo.
8:26
A yogi waves goodbye to them after
8:28
class.
8:28
Bye, Nate Witts.
8:30
See y'all later.
8:31
That's nitwits with a K.
8:34
Library director, Judy Bergeron,
8:36
says there's a good reason why the
8:37
groups meet in the same room.
8:39
We have noticed that when we're
8:40
doing the leg stretches and stuff
8:42
like that with the chair yoga,
8:44
their legs are moving under the
8:45
table, so.
8:47
It's kind of fun.
8:48
The class is part of programming
8:49
she's introduced for what's called
8:51
the Libraries for Health Initiative.
8:53
Smithville is one of eight Central
8:55
Texas libraries receiving funding
8:57
from the St. David's Foundation,
8:59
aimed at boosting mental health
9:00
support in their communities.
9:02
Abinah Asante, a senior program
9:04
officer at the foundation, says the
9:06
idea came after a community health
9:08
needs assessment showed there was
9:10
insufficient mental health support
9:11
across the five Central Texas
9:13
counties the organization covers.
9:16
Thinking about how do we respond
9:18
to this persistent gap
9:20
here in central Texas,
9:22
we started looking at the assets
9:24
within our region and
9:26
libraries was one of the
9:28
assets that came up again and
9:30
again.
9:31
Most communities already have
9:32
libraries and rely on them,
9:34
not just for books, but for all
9:36
kinds of resources.
9:38
That's certainly true in Smithville.
9:40
Bergeron says for some people, it's
9:42
the only place they have access to
9:43
computers and the internet.
9:45
It's not just coming in to use
9:47
the computer, but it's
9:49
coming in because I have to fill out
9:51
a critical social security benefits
9:53
form, and I don't know
9:55
how to do it, and how can I
9:57
get help?
9:57
Also veterans unsure how to access
10:00
their benefits, people looking for
10:01
help recovering from addiction, and
10:03
unhoused people looking a space to
10:05
cool off.
10:07
Library staff just aren't always
10:08
equipped with the time or training
10:10
to help.
10:11
That's where Libraries for Health
10:12
comes in.
10:13
The St. David's Foundation gave
10:15
grants to libraries from Smithville
10:17
to Martindale to San Marcos,
10:19
allowing them flexibility to fund
10:21
what they think will be most
10:22
helpful.
10:23
But they also provided funding for a
10:25
peer support specialist.
10:26
Someone with lived experience who
10:28
can talk patrons through mental
10:30
health challenges and help them
10:32
find resources.
10:33
In Smithville, that's Brittany Khan
10:35
Flores.
10:36
She says she has experience with
10:38
addiction and mental health
10:39
challenge that helps her to identify
10:41
with library patrons and build
10:43
trust.
10:45
Tell a story or hey
10:47
just share you know what when I was
10:48
in that situation this is what I did
10:50
I'm not I can't say it'll work for
10:51
you but you know it's
10:53
a possibility if you like to try it
10:55
you know we can maybe strategize on
10:57
how to get you there.
10:59
Up north at the library in Gerald,
11:01
there are currently two peer support
11:02
specialists who work with different
11:04
groups that make up key portions of
11:06
the growing Gerald community.
11:08
Susan Gregorick is the library's
11:09
chief academic advisor.
11:09
Director.
11:11
One works with young families
11:13
and parenting and
11:15
parents who have children with
11:17
disabilities and
11:19
the other works with more
11:21
of the senior citizens.
11:23
That second specialist also works
11:24
with an American Sign Language
11:26
group, a veterans group, and
11:28
groups on grief, anxiety, and
11:29
depression.
11:30
Gregorick says they've dramatically
11:32
expanded what the library is
11:34
able to do.
11:35
And she doesn't want to let them go
11:37
after funding from the foundation
11:39
wraps up at the end.
11:39
Of the year.
11:41
I hate to use the word desperately,
11:42
but we are desperately seeking
11:44
funding to keep both
11:46
of our peer support specialists
11:48
after 2026.
11:50
They both are very
11:52
good at the jobs they're doing right
11:54
now.
11:55
Some libraries, like Gerald's, are
11:57
looking for additional grant
11:58
funding.
11:59
Others are trying to get funding
12:00
from their cities or counties to
12:02
establish a permanent, sustainable
12:04
mental health support program.
12:06
Meanwhile, the St. David's
12:08
Foundation is trying to spread the
12:09
word about Libraries for Health
12:11
beyond Central Texas.
12:13
They say a public toolkit for the
12:14
program posted online has
12:16
already been downloaded over 1,000
12:18
times.
12:19
I'm Olivia Aldridge in Austin.
12:22
And this is Austin Signal,
12:24
thank you for tuning in, we'll be
12:26
back after a break.
12:31
This is Austin Signal, welcome
12:32
back.
12:33
A new episode of Vamos Verde just
12:36
dropped and this week the crew tries
12:37
to figure out how they're gonna get
12:39
to this year's World Cup.
12:41
Host Jimmy Moss and Juan Diego
12:43
Garcia interviewed the co-creator
12:45
of the World Cup Guide,
12:47
Jason Daly, who's been to every
12:49
World Cup since 2006.
12:52
What made you create the World Cup
12:54
guide?
12:55
It's a great question.
12:56
It's one I get asked all the time.
12:58
I've been obsessed with the World
13:00
Cup since I first saw it in 1994
13:02
as a kid.
13:04
It blew my mind
13:06
that soccer
13:08
had such a vast global
13:10
appeal and seeing people in
13:12
airports, etc.
13:14
It left a massive mark.
13:16
And then in 98,
13:19
I was older and spent
13:21
the summer just going from house to
13:22
house with friends watching.
13:25
Every match and playing in between.
13:28
It was one of the best summers ever.
13:32
I thought I have to get there at
13:33
some point.
13:34
2002 just seemed like
13:36
an impossible task and
13:38
then I went in 2006 with
13:40
a friend and mentor who
13:42
kind of gave me some guidance of
13:44
like it seems impossible but
13:46
what does it take?
13:47
Probably just saving.
13:48
So put together all my money.
13:52
That I could and saved over a few
13:54
years went.
13:55
And from that moment on, I
13:57
thought I have to do this every
13:59
year.
14:00
I loved it.
14:01
And then come 2014, I started
14:03
answering questions from
14:05
friends, friends of
14:07
friends. Hey, how does this work?
14:09
How do we do it?
14:11
And I kept repeating myself
14:13
over and over.
14:14
So after 2014,
14:16
I thought to myself, I'm
14:18
writing all this research down
14:19
anyways, and I'm just sending the
14:21
people.
14:21
Let's make a website and try to
14:23
consolidate all this information so
14:25
anybody can
14:27
reference it.
14:28
So that's how it started.
14:30
It's not a fair comparison because
14:31
it was 32 years ago.
14:32
But the last time that, you know,
14:34
the U S hosted the world cup prices
14:37
were.
14:38
10% of what
14:40
prices are now.
14:41
Is that fair?
14:43
Uh, I mean,
14:45
well, this is not, this straight
14:47
dollars, not adjusted as far as I
14:49
know.
14:50
Well, yeah, no, it's
14:51
interesting you asked.
14:53
So I took it upon myself
14:54
a couple of years ago.
14:56
So some of the frustration and
14:57
reason why I have
14:59
the site and what it evolved into
15:01
is like all the information
15:03
disappears. So you can't go
15:05
easily and just look up, hey, how
15:06
much were tickets in 2014?
15:08
Right.
15:09
And so I've just been kind
15:11
of a nerd, just
15:13
been documenting this
15:15
information. And then I thought, I
15:17
wonder how far I can go back.
15:18
And I was mostly curious all
15:20
the way to 94.
15:22
So a couple of years ago, I was
15:24
doing some digging and pulled up a
15:25
bunch of references and articles.
15:27
So there's an article on the site
15:29
that has tickets since 94
15:31
with all the references I
15:33
found online.
15:34
And I have two images.
15:36
One, just straight dollars.
15:39
And then two, if you account for
15:41
an inflation, I think it was based
15:42
on the consumer price index
15:44
of December, 2025.
15:48
That's fair Connell, a lot of the
15:50
more recent inflation,
15:52
and that would be correct, yeah.
15:53
Correct. Because it was very
15:55
frustrating for people to be like,
15:56
oh, supply-demand.
15:57
It's just like, well, it's kind of a
15:58
lottery and then phases and
16:00
then people will say, oh inflation
16:02
is like, it won't stop that much.
16:03
No. Yeah. Inflation was actually
16:05
quite flat for many, many, many
16:06
years until recently.
16:08
So, yeah.
16:08
So I'll just list the
16:10
price of 94 for like a standard
16:12
group stage game.
16:14
Uh, your categories, cause there's
16:16
three categories of tickets.
16:18
If you want to dive further into
16:20
knowing those details, but the
16:21
cheapest category, uh,
16:23
was $25.
16:25
Then it was 45 and then 65
16:27
and 94.
16:29
Um, and from the consumer price
16:31
index, I ran at the end of the year,
16:33
those would equate to $55,
16:35
$99 and $142.
16:38
What I did is since it's
16:40
dynamic for the 2026
16:42
prices, what I
16:44
did here to give like an idea
16:46
is I took the latest price.
16:49
So your phase three that just
16:50
finished a couple of weeks ago,
16:52
and then I took the
16:54
average of all the group stage
16:56
prices to come up with this price,
16:58
just to have a one price comparison.
17:00
Yeah, you need a ballpark especially
17:02
these days with resale and all that.
17:03
It's hard to really pinpoint
17:06
So you went from considering
17:08
inflation in 94 from
17:10
55 to $201
17:12
for the cheapest,
17:14
$99 to 433
17:16
and then $142
17:18
to 563
17:21
for your average
17:23
phase three FIFA supply
17:25
ticket price, considering
17:27
inflation from 94 to 2026.
17:30
That is, um,
17:33
that's massive.
17:34
And that's not going to be cheap
17:35
for, I mean, you're not
17:37
just going by yourself.
17:38
You're going to go with other
17:39
people.
17:40
And, you know, so you got to,
17:42
someone's got to front that money.
17:43
Like I would brace myself for $140
17:46
ticket at, you know,
17:48
maybe something above what, like an
17:50
MLS going to see an MMS team
17:52
in most like, like if they would,
17:53
were to bring, I don't know, the U S
17:55
men's national team to
17:57
the, the Toyota center
17:59
out in Houston or no, not that the
18:01
energy stadium out in Houston for
18:03
like a showcase or maybe like
18:05
a qualifying match or something.
18:06
$142 seems
18:09
like...
18:11
Something I could see myself paying
18:13
for something like that.
18:14
Yes, it, but
18:16
there's also now there's
18:19
the added that's.
18:21
This is your face value.
18:22
That's not right master.
18:24
Yeah
18:24
Yeah, like adding fees and for a
18:25
seat geek or any of that stuff that
18:27
yeah
18:29
There's concerts that I would go to
18:30
that I'd pay 142 bucks for a ticket.
18:33
Yes. Would you go see two
18:35
random countries that you have no
18:36
connection to? That's a good
18:38
question.
18:39
I always have fun because
18:41
people never realize how
18:43
relatively affordable
18:45
a World Cup typically is
18:48
for a fan trying to go
18:50
to get tickets.
18:52
And I love asking Americans
18:54
like, Hey, why don't you guess how
18:55
much this ticket is?
18:58
And I'm looking at
19:00
the prices and history and I
19:02
even have my
19:04
tickets here from 2022 to
19:06
reference but you
19:08
know I I was
19:10
given a first row seat
19:12
to Brazil versus Switzerland
19:14
in 2022.
19:16
In today's dollars, I
19:18
paid $75 for that
19:20
ticket. Yeah, yeah now
19:22
you can't get that ticket for
19:24
you know, if we're using this
19:26
$563, yeah
19:28
And that's, is
19:30
that, are we isolating that
19:32
too, just because of where it's
19:34
being held or is that because
19:36
of, where the sport
19:38
is moving in general?
19:41
I think it's both,
19:43
sadly.
19:44
Yeah, this hobby that
19:46
I've had for my life could
19:48
be ending after this one if
19:50
FIFA continues to price tickets
19:52
at this level.
19:54
It just starts to get to a point
19:56
where if you're going to bring
19:57
someone with you or your family,
19:59
you're just like, I don't know if
20:00
this is worth it anymore.
20:03
Plus you were saying how you you
20:04
save up over four years if
20:07
we're talking
20:09
Multiple thousands of dollars to go
20:11
to on this kind of trip now.
20:13
You have to save up even longer or
20:15
put more more.
20:16
Yeah
20:17
And it's like, you know, in the U S
20:19
it's not like you get much time off.
20:21
So, uh, is this when
20:23
you know you and your spouse decide,
20:25
Hey, we're both going to take off
20:26
time for work.
20:27
We're going to pick the kids.
20:28
Is this like, are we getting the
20:30
value for the money with the kids?
20:32
Um, if you're going have to be
20:33
paying like 500 plus, uh
20:36
a ticket for everyone to go to
20:38
a match.
20:40
And that is just the cost of
20:42
tickets.
20:43
And just a taste of what's in the
20:45
latest episode, Jason also talks
20:46
about hotels and travel,
20:49
all other kinds of considerations.
20:51
And we even hear how Stephanie
20:52
Federico, editor of KUT's
20:54
Art Beat, found herself at a
20:56
World Cup game in Boston.
20:58
We're gonna have a link to the full
20:59
episode in today's show notes and at
21:01
kut.org slash
21:03
signal.
21:10
The Texas men's basketball team are
21:12
in their second win of this year's
21:13
NCAA tournament last night, beating
21:15
the BYU Cougars.
21:17
The Longhorns advance to the round
21:19
of 32, setting up a Saturday
21:21
night matchup against the
21:23
three-seeded Gonzaga.
21:24
Texas has defeated the Wolf Pack,
21:26
the Cougers, and now they go up
21:28
against the Bulldogs.
21:29
Tip-off tomorrow night is scheduled
21:31
for a few minutes past 6
21:33
o'clock local time.
21:34
And action in the women's tournament
21:36
tipped off today and it's happening
21:38
right down the street from us here
21:39
at the Moody Center.
21:41
Oregon has an early lead on Virginia
21:43
Tech and that game will be followed
21:45
up by the one seeded Texas
21:47
Longhorns taking on Missouri State.
21:49
The Longhors have lots of postseason
21:51
experience on this year's roster
21:53
thanks to players like fifth year
21:55
senior Rory Harmon.
21:56
Let's hear from her.
21:58
In the back of my head, I do
22:00
think about how it is my last run.
22:02
But I try not to put too much
22:03
emotions about that part, it
22:05
being the last.
22:07
You just wanna be in the moment,
22:08
don't get tied up in too much
22:09
emotion.
22:10
Just play like it is, understand
22:13
I don't have another opportunity
22:15
to do it.
22:16
But I just wanna stay in the moments
22:17
where my feet are at and enjoy my
22:19
time with my teammates.
22:21
The Longhorns and the Lady Bears are
22:22
scheduled to tip off this afternoon
22:24
at 3 o'clock.
22:25
The winners of today's game will be
22:27
back at the Moody Center on Sunday
22:29
to play for a spot in
22:31
the Sweet 16.
22:33
That about does it for us today and
22:35
this week here on Austin Signal,
22:37
thank you so much for making us part
22:39
of your every day here
22:41
in Austin. We appreciate you tuning
22:43
in.
22:44
Thank you to our crew, Rayna Sevilla
22:46
is our technical director and
22:48
Kristen Cabrera is our managing
22:50
producer.
22:51
I'm your host Jerry Quijano, have a
22:53
lovely weekend, we will talk to
22:55
you on Monday.