AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Austin Water officials on Tuesday released the results of an internal investigation into an incident at the city's Ullrich Water Treatment Plant in early February, which led to a city-wide boil water notice.
The memo, from outgoing Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros, says the reports largely substantiate the utility's initial assessment of the incident, which resulted from high turbidity coming out of a basin seeding process that was allowed to continue for too long, and on-duty staff failing to appropriately respond to the plant's deteriorating conditions.
"This in-depth investigatory process has confirmed our preliminary findings that there were failures in staff’s response to deteriorating plant conditions and communications up the chain of command," said Meszaros in a statement. "This is unacceptable, and Austin Water managers are taking steps to ensure that it does not happen again."
The memorandum includes investigation summary reports of the three utility employees who were on duty during the incident. Jason Perez, Benjamin Petrush, and Joseph Dooley are alleged to have failed to follow established practices, and failed to escalate the incident to their chain of command.
The February incident marked the third system-wide boil water notice issued by Austin Water in the last four years, which prompted calls for investigations into the reliability and operations of the city-owned utility.
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Meszaros announced his resignation on Feb. 11, and will depart the utility early next month. City Manager Spencer Cronk announced last week that Robert Goode will take over the utility on an interim basis. Goode previously served as an assistant city manager with the City of Austin, with executive leadership and oversight over multiple departments including Austin Water.
Cronk said he'll begin a nationwide search for a permanent director to fill the role.
City Council's Austin Water Oversight Committee is expected to discuss the findings of the internal investigation at their next meeting, which is scheduled for Thursday at 2 p.m. In addition to the internal investigation, council members are also waiting for the results of an external audit and investigation into the utility's operations.