Grocery stores’ bottled water shelves cleared after boil water notice for Austin Water users

AUSTIN — Following a boil water notice issued to Austin Water customers Oct. 22, Austinites are scrambling to get bottled water from grocery stores across the city.
Historic flooding last week brought high levels of silt into the City of Austin’s water supply, so the city’s water plants are struggling to keep up.
‘It looks like chocolate milk’: Austin issues city-wide boil water notice due to murky water RAW: Austin city officials explain reasoning for city-wide boil water notice Austin’s Lake Travis levels expected to continue slow decline into Monday PHOTOS: A look at how ‘historic’ flooding of Llano River has impacted Central Texas In the meantime, Austin Water customers are asked to boil their water before drinking, cooking with it or using ice.
Hours after the boil water notice was issued, Austinites flocked to local grocery stores to get bottled water, leaving shelves empty.
KVUE’s Jay Wallis saw Austin residents rushing into an H-E-B to fill up on bottled water Monday morning.
At the H-E-B on Far West, shelves were empty when KVUE’s Lauren Petterson arrived at around 5:20 a.m. Katie Lynch said her H-E-B was packed with people getting bottled water.
Ariadyn Hansen tweeted a video of the "longest 6 a.m. line ever" at the H-E-B on Burnet Road.
She said she couldn’t find water at that location.
KVUE’s Kristie Gonzalez said Jo’s Coffee in downtown Austin was not serving coffee or water due to the boil water notice.
Stay tuned with KVUE on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on the situation.

Learn More