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| Austin, TX faces second boil water notice in a year, residents ridicule 'third-world' conditions |
| 2022-02-07 |
| [FoxBusiness] Ullrich Water Treatment Plant also suffered a dual failure in February 2021. Austin, Texas prides itself on being a high-tech hub, the center of the Texas "Silicon Prairie." It's home to Google and Facebook, which just signed the city's largest-ever lease, and will soon be home to Apple's mammoth campus on the city's northern edge. Austin was where Twitter was first introduced at SXSW, which is one of the world's leading technology and cultural showpieces every year. Even nearby cities reap from Austin's tech reputation: Samsung is building a massive plant in Taylor, up the road about 40 miles from downtown Austin. But infrastructure and essentials like potable water are key to supporting business, and the Texas capital is having trouble keeping its drinking water clean, again. Austin issued a water boil notice Saturday night that will last "a couple days" after officials failed to address the issue following a failure a year ago at the same treatment plant. Officials issued the notice Saturday night that the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant is out of service due to "an internal treatment process issue that resulted in high turbidity." Crews and officials are working to restore operations. Mayor Steve Adler said it appeared that "this will be over in a couple of days." He helped with water distribution Sunday, applauding the city's purchase of water trucks after Winter Storm Uri, which hit Texas mid-Feb. 2021 and led to a similar water shutdown, at the very same plant. The boil water notice has caused some anger among Austin residents who found the situation unacceptable, largely focused on a mayor who appears to prioritize defunding the police instead of ensuring Austin can handle the brief winter storms it experiences year to year - efforts that have led to an incredible spike in homicides. "City leaders have ignored the real issues facing everyday Austinites and have manifestly failed to provide core services that are commensurate with the taxes we pay to live in an expensive city," Save Austin Now co-founder Matt Mackowiak told FOX Business. "This is our third water boil notice in three years. Last year we set an all-time homicide record and we are on track to set a new record this year." "Affordability has never been worse," he added. "Homeless camping continues in violation of a voter-passed initiative re-instituting the ban on camping. This will never change until voters consider standard of living and vote these bums out for reasonable, solution-oriented people." Others took to Twitter to vent their frustration, with some labeling the conditions as "third world." |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #9 What changed is simple, lefties destroy everything they touch. It's taken a long time to turn Austin into the cesspit it is. UT austin going woke kinda of put the deathknell in. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2022-02-07 14:25 |
| #8 Funny. Don't remember hearing anything like this 10 years ago. Heck, even a jewel in public television's crown with Austin City Limits. What has changed? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-02-07 13:39 |
| #7 The California Neo-Feudal social model: eliminate the middle classes and replace them with a few Oligarchs, their bought pols, and the shit-smeared peasantry |
| Posted by: Merrick Ferret 2022-02-07 09:48 |
| #6 If you took away a function from government each time they failed to deliver, you would eventually eliminate government. Might be the way to go. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-02-07 09:34 |
| #5 It's what happens when a local government stops doing the job they were elected/hired to do, and start doing the bidding of the federal government. |
| Posted by: badanov 2022-02-07 09:30 |
| #4 But they’ve got great music... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2022-02-07 09:03 |
| #3 This is what they voted for. Austin has turned into a Third World Shit Hole under Mayor Addled. |
| Posted by: Too Old To Work 2022-02-07 08:20 |
| #2 Keep Austin |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-02-07 08:01 |
| #1 Good and Hard |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-02-07 07:54 |