Water

Almost every household in the Travis Peak area is dependent on water from individual or small community wells. These wells vary in depth, capacity, and water quality; however, all are run by electrical power and are subject to outages at the most inconvenient times. There are many reasons water wells fail to pump water and also every situation is different. The following is an overview of potential issues. Keep in mind that we are here to help assess your specific situation.

LCRA Water Operations

As background, information about how LCRA manages the water supply is at the LCRA Water Operations page.

Power Grid Failure

Normally this is a short-term issue with the grid but can be longer, or in critical situations such as wildfires, the power is required to be shut down for the safety of fire crews. Severe weather, such as ice storms, heat/cold related blackouts, etc., can disrupt service as well. You can get outage information from the PEC Outage Center.

Local Power Failure

• Circuit breaker tripped – can be an indicator of more serious issues.
• Control box failure – capacitors, frayed or corroded wire contacts, etc.

Weather Caused Failure

• Broken or Frozen pipes - cover external pipes and hose bibs during the winter months.

Equipment Failures

This can apply to well pumps and/or booster pumps if using a storage tank. These issues normally require the services of a licensed well pump technician or plumber.

• Well Pump failure.
• Booster Pump failure.
• Pressure control failure.
• Stuck check valves.
• Float valve failure.
• Clogged filters.

Water Table

More severe and costly issues are when the Water table drops below pump. These issues normally require the services of licensed well driller.

• Lower pump in well.
• Drill new well for a deeper water source – must be done by licensed well driller and county permits.

Take Action

All the above situations, plus many more, can be mitigated by taking action to identify local/temporary water sources until the problems can be corrected.

• Grocery Stores and/or Costco for potable water.
• Travis County Emergency Services Division (ESD).
• Neighbors.
• TPCNW - We are here to help too!

Installing a storage tank is recommended but can be expensive. This provides a longer-term source of water and can be used as storage if you need water trucked in. A storage tank normally requires a booster pump which can be operated by an external power source (stand-by generator / invertor, solar power, and/or battery storage).

Conservation

Please keep in mind that water is a precious resource and we should strive to conserve that resource. Please consider forms of water collection for irrigation and non-potable uses.

Contribute

If you have other ideas and/or concerns not listed above, please let us know so that we can continue to expand our knowledge and better serve our Community.