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Cases of water sent to Austin from FEMA. (Laura Figi/Austonia)
This story has been updated as of Sunday at 10 p.m.
The city of Austin is continuing with its efforts to make sure residents have drinking water with 10 distribution sites passing out water into the start of the week as a boiling water notice is still in effect after the winter freeze.
Monday's distribution will start at 9 a.m. and go until 5 p.m., or while supplies last. The 10 distribution locations include:
(City of Austin/Twitter)
Each site will hand out one case of water per car on a first-come, first-serve basis. Because supplies are still limited, the city recommends that residents only get free water if they cannot boil or purchase water elsewhere. In order to move quickly, the city requests that residents have their trunks open or doors unlocked so workers can swiftly provide water to each car.
This is the final phase of the three-part distribution effort put in place by the city of Austin. It received 1 million gallons of water from FEMA amid a water shortage and boil water notice for local residents.
On Friday, critical areas including warming shelters, COVID-19 isolation sites, and first responder locations were prioritized for distribution. By Saturday, the city had partnered with community programs such as Capital Metro to begin expanding to vulnerable populations including seniors and those with certain medical needs, and Saturday night saw the general public receive its first cases of water.
As of Sunday at 5 p.m., the city had passed out 17,136 cases of water to critical facilities, 14,448 cases to vulnerable populations through city partners and 19,068 cases to the general public.
Water Update
While the city scrambles to bring drinking water to the millions of Austinites with little to no running water, Austin Water has made some improvements to its utility services. On Sunday at 7 p.m., the department announced that storage in reservoirs had jumped to 90 million gallons. A minimum of 100 million gallons are needed in storage to resume normal operations.
Although no region has seen its normal water supply come back, Austin Water said that two zones, the South and Northwest A regions, had climbed from Red (Water Outage) to Orange (Low Pressure). Five of the 9 water utility regions still have no running water.
distribution system. Today we added North and Southwest A (SWA) zones moved from Red (Water Outage) to Orange (Low Pressure). Individual water pressure and service may vary from house to house within a zone. pic.twitter.com/bFlFyRmWGR
— Austin Water (@AustinWater) February 22, 2021
The citywide boil-water notice is still in effect and will be for the next several days as the city samples water and ensures the supply is drinkable and safe.
Because water is still very limited, Travis County Judge Andy Brown has issued an order prohibiting businesses from providing car washing services around the county. Austin Water has also announced mandatory water restrictions on customers, including washing cars at home. Customers should not waste the scarce available water on irrigation or irrigation equipment, washing pavement or other services, adding water to a pool or spa, conducting foundation watering, or operating a fountain or pond if it is not needed to preserve aquaculture.
Anyone can report violations of these restrictions to Austin 311.
Power Update
While a lack of water is still affecting millions of Austinites, power outage issues have nearly been wiped out by Austin Energy.
As of Sunday night, the department had narrowed down to less than 25 customers without power with only one active outage.
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Popular
(Project Connect)
Designs for stations along Project Connect’s Blue Line were presented this week, giving a detailed look at what part of the rail system extending from downtown to the airport could look like.
The planned stations that have gotten the latest focus include Waterfront, Travis Heights and Lakeshore stations past Lady Bird Lake.
At the Waterfront station, the preliminary design aims to prevent visual obstructions and save on costs. This is accomplished by a transit guideway that will lower from the bridge to a level station.
Heading onto East Riverside Drive, the light rail faces a curve requiring a slow down to about 10 miles per hour.
The Travis Heights station could involve relocating a pedestrian crosswalk zone at Alameda Drive to Blunn Creek. Since light rails can't effectively operate on a steep grade, this allows the transit guideway to avoid that.
From there, the rail will extend to the Norwood Park area, and though it will reach along the right-of-way zone, the park will be able to remain open.
A view of the Blue Line by Lady Bird Lake. (Project Connect)
The line involves some coordination with the Texas Department of Transportation. That's because the department is working on an intersection that will have to be built before the phasing of the section of the Blue Line involving an I-35 crossing.
When it comes to the safety of cyclists and walkers, design ideas include a pedestrian hybrid beacon by East Bouldin Creek that would provide a protected signal to cross. And for the intersection TxDOT is carrying out, Project Connect is working with them on pedestrian access across the intersection. It could involve shared use paths along the street and crossings beneath it.
This summer, the public can expect 30% of design and cost estimates to be released. Though the project was $7.1 billion when voters approved it in November 2020, the latest estimates factoring in inflation and supply chain constraints show it could ultimately be upwards of $10 billion.
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(Amazon/Facebook)
Plans for an Amazon warehouse in Round Rock—a $250 million project slated to be a large distribution center—are on hold.
This comes just after the tech giant had its worst financial quarter in seven years.
The details:
- Late last year, it announced an expansion at the Domain adding 2,000 more corporate and tech jobs.
- Amazon still owns the site in Round Rock. Plans for it are unclear.
- Early this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon is aiming to scrap warehouse space as it faces a slowdown in its e-commerce operations.
Part of that effort involves exploring the possibility of ending or renegotiating leases with outside warehouse owners. Another aspect is a plan to sublease warehouse space.
“It allows us to relieve the financial obligations associated with an existing building that no longer meets our needs,” an Amazon spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal. “Subleasing is something many established corporations do to help manage their real estate portfolio.”
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