New regulations added for Aqua Texas in Woodcreek

The city of Woodcreek adopted two new ordinances intent on increasing requirements from Aqua Texas on a few specific instances.

The city established a new minimum standard for water flow and pressure to fire hydrants.

“There requirements meet the (Texas Commission of Environmental Quality) requirements for any public utility,” Woodcreek City Manager Brenton Lewis said. “Speaking with Wimberley Fire, there are hydrants they can hook on to fill tankers with, but they are wary of hooking up to a pumper because they could suck the pipes out of the ground… This would require Aqua Texas to meet the requirements of a public utility.”

Private utilities, such as Aqua Texas, are not required by the state to meet the same standards for fire hydrants as public utilities. The change requires Aqua Texas to increase the water pressure available to fire hydrants while also potentially adding more hydrants throughout the city.

The city also changed the minimum standards for water service. Following a string of outages a few months ago, the city council will now require a new set of rules in such a situation.

The city will require Aqua Texas to maintain its equipment for back up power at all times, as a backup generator failure caused one of the previous outages.

Also, if water service is down for more than two hours, Aqua Texas would be required to deliver bottled water to homes that are impacted.

It was stated that both ordinances were passed at this point so that they could be brought up when Aqua Texas franchise agreement is renewed in the near future, but it was also stated that the requirements go into effect immediately.

It was not stated what the repercussions would be if Aqua Texas did not comply with the new ordinances.