UPDATE: Burnet lifts emergency water restrictions
The city of Burnet lifted Stage 4 emergency water restrictions Thursday morning after fixing an issue with its water disinfectant system. The restrictions were put in place on Wednesday afternoon.
Burnet residents were told to cease all outdoor watering and irrigation at around 4:30 p.m. Aug. 7 to help conserve water.
“The truth is, we probably could have gotten through (Wednesday night) without doing anything, but when it comes to water, you don’t want to take any chances,” Burnet City Manager David Vaughn told DailyTrib.com following the fix.
Vaughn explained that a disinfectant canister the city uses to sterilize its water supply was either empty or malfunctioned, meaning water could not be sent safely into the distribution system. The city had to rely on its reserves while the issue was worked on, and Vaughn made the call to impose mandatory restrictions.
“God forbid you have a line break or a fire (while the system is down),” he said. “Then you’ve got real issues.”
Vaughn asked that residents sign up for city alerts using the Voyent notification system to stay up to date on city announcements and emergencies.
“We only had about 25 (water lines) that we had to cut off overnight, but they were turned on by the morning. (Residents) probably didn’t even know (their water) was turned off,” he said. “The community did a great job with limiting their outdoor irrigation.”