For over 100 years, Austin Water has been committed to providing safe, reliable, high-quality, and affordable water services to our customers. Today, the utility serves over one million people in the Austin metropolitan area, across more than 548 square miles. Austin Water is a department of the City of Austin and has over 1,400 employees who work every day to provide water for people and care for the environment.
Austin Water sources its supply from the Colorado River via the Highland Lakes system, treating it at three regional water treatment plants — Handcox, Davis, and Ullrich — which have a combined capacity of 335 million gallons per day. The utility also operates two major wastewater treatment plants, Walnut Creek and South Austin Regional, which together can treat up to 150 million gallons of wastewater daily. This water is cleaned to high-quality effluent standards and safely returned to the Colorado River to support environmental flows. Each year, more than a billion gallons of this reclaimed water are reused for outdoor irrigation, industrial cooling, manufacturing, and other beneficial purposes — reinforcing Austin Water’s commitment to sustainability and resource stewardship.
Effective management of water loss is a critical component of Austin Water’s broader stewardship efforts, supporting the efficient use of treated water resources and helping protect long‑term supply reliability.
