City officials told the Leander City Council on Jan. 2 that planned work at the BCRE Way treatment facility will temporarily reduce capacity and that the city has activated stage 4 water conservation steps to prepare for the change.

Executive Director of Public Works Ellison said scheduled shutdown and upgrades at the BCRE Way plant reduced effective treatment capacity from 24 million gallons per day to about 9 million gallons per day, a roughly 60% reduction. "We initiated phase 4 on Monday of this week," she said, and staff sent emergency alerts and posted signage in subdivisions to notify residents of restrictions.

Ellison described multiple outreach channels: email, phone and text alerts for signed-up customers, message boards at 12 city gateways and media outreach. She said staff has also coordinated with the city's Office of Emergency Management and the fire department to identify distribution points and support if low pressure or other service problems occur during the reduced-capacity period.

City communicators said they are targeting homeowners associations and apartment managements and expanding a list of community contacts for targeted messages. Communication manager Ty (no last name provided) confirmed the communications team issues press releases and social media posts and coordinates with the media.

Staff described contingency thresholds and risks. The city said it can reach about 10 MGD in limited periods from Sandy Creek but that multiple consecutive days above 10 MGD could harm the plant. Loss of pressure — for instance if tower or pump capacity is exceeded — could require issuing a well-water or boil-water notice if pressure drops below 20 psi in parts of the distribution system.

Officials asked residents to suspend outdoor irrigation and nonessential outdoor water uses, noting indoor household uses (showers, laundry) are unaffected. Ellison said the city may need to flush distribution tanks to maintain chlorine residuals during low demand periods and asked for public cooperation while the work continues.

No formal council action was required; the session was an operational update.