Water Services

The City provides water services to the citizens of Burnet. Report any water line breaks immediately to the Water Department by calling (512) 756-6093.

Water Treatment

In 1951 the City of Burnet began providing treated groundwater to the City from the Water Softening Plant on North Main Street. This plant was used to soften the ground water to improve the water quality. The City of Burnet has emergency groundwater wells that can be brought on line if needed. In order to comply with TCEQ disinfection requirements during the operation of the emergency wells the City maintains the Water Softening Plant in a partially working condition. The Water Softening Plant is used for storage, distribution and disinfection contact time when the wells are needed.

Inks Lake Surface Water Treatment Plant came on line in 1986. The City obtains untreated (raw water) from Inks Lake under a purchasing contract with the Lower Colorado River Authority.  The raw water is metered according to TCEQ rules.  The raw and finished water meters are tested at least annually for accuracy.

Inks Lake Surface Water Treatment Plant is a conventional plant with a capacity of 2.88 million gallons per day. It consists of a raw water intake structure with a deep-water inlet to allow for lake drawdown during the winter months, two raw water submersible pumps, clarifier, two mixed media gravity filters, two 500,000 gallon clear wells and three high service pumps.

All City operations personnel that are responsible for producing treated water participate in advanced training and achieve licensing to insure that water quality and facilities operations remain at their best.

Water produced at the Inks Lake Water Treatment Plant is treated in accordance with TCEQ and EPA regulations with a combination of Chlorine and Ammonia added as a disinfectant. Bentonite, aluminum sulfate (alum) and polymer are added for coagulation to achieve maximum total organic carbon (TOC) removal prior to final disinfection. This is designed to lower disinfection by-products to levels mandated by state and federal regulatory agencies. All chemicals added during treatment and distribution are certified (NSF 60) safe for potable water use.

Water Distribution

The potable water is distributed through storage tanks and piping, including mains, laterals, and service lines, in order to reach each customer.  The Water Distribution System consists of over 60 miles of pipeline, 2-500,000 gallon storage tanks for the 1570’ elevation plane, 2-400,000 gallon ground storage tanks for the 1470’ elevation plane for a total of 1.8 million gallons. The City has 391 fire hydrants and 2,262 meters at this time.

To ensure the quality of our drinking water we take over 96 bacteriological samples each year at various points throughout the system.  These samples are delivered to an approved laboratory for analysis and the results are forwarded to TCEQ. TCEQ contracts with an approved laboratory to pull other compliance samples. All of this is to ensure that your water supply is safe and dependable each time you turn on the faucet.

The City Water Treatment Plant provides water to City customers in Rancho Viejo, Eagles Nest, Delaware Springs, The Ranch, Highland Oaks, and The Hills of Shady Grove. The City of Burnet also provides water to Inks Lake State Park on Park Road 4.

We are constantly working to upgrade and improve our water distribution system. Our in-house crews work continually to eliminate breaks, address main line problems, improve system pressures, maintain fire fighting flows, and install new water taps to the system.