It’s official – Austin has plenty of water for present and future needs.

Monday, September 20, 1999

It’s official – Austin has plenty of water for present and future needs.

Austin Utilities Board of Commissioners heard it from former General Manager Kevin Maynard last November; on Tuesday they heard the news again from an engineering firm commissioned to study the city’s water distribution. Insurance rating points give Austin’s water supply 36.2 points out of 40 in terms of fire risks, while the other rated areas of fire alarms and fire department got 7.6 out of 10 and 24.68 of 50 respectively.

However, despite the good water score, that’s not to say improvements can’t be made.

Austin has more than enough water supply and storage, but parts age and consumer needs increase.

Engineers Kevin Bittner and Herman Dharmarajah of Bolton & Menk/Jones engineering firm pinpointed several areas of distribution deficiency, including the lines leading to St. Mark’s Lutheran Home and a small area south of 8th Ave. SE.

The St. Mark’s situation presented some worries, as Dharmarajah explained that the nursing home would need 5,000 gallons per minute if there were a fire, but capacity was only 2,400 gpm. The options for St. Mark’s are to either install a sprinkler system or to pay for installation of larger pipes to the facility.

"It’s not our responsibility to provide St. Mark’s with that much water," Board President Ken Regner said. "They have a couple of options. The question is whether we have a responsibility to notify customers if there’s a deficiency."

Director of gas and water distribution Larry Krones said the utility company regularly gets calls from insurance companies on "fire flows".

"They [St. Mark’s] are aware they have sprinkler needs," Krones told the board.

Larger water mains were also recommended from Belair Towers to Interstate 90, across I90 to the Cook Farm site as well as looping to and from the NE power plant.

"Most of the system needs are growth related," Dharmarajah said.

The engineering firm also presented the board with a map of recommended long-term improvements, improvements which would come in at a price tag of more than $6 million if followed. More than half of that price was associated with costs of providing adequate water to the Cook Farm site, designated as Austin’s next industrial park but currently unoccupied.

Some of the needs will go away in normal maintenance, because Austin Utilities works in conjunction with the city’s engineering department, replacing water mains in areas of street construction every summer. Others, like St. Mark’s, will depend on the customer. The Cook Farm site is not scheduled for connection anytime soon, according to Regner.

"If a customer does show up, we’ll get the pipe in and worry about who and how it’s paid for later," he said. "I don’t think we should put $3 million in the ground ‘just in case’ though."