{"id":366697,"date":"2026-07-09T11:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T11:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/366697\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T11:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T11:05:11","slug":"scientific-study-on-east-austin-neighborhoods-water-finds-contaminants-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/366697\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientific Study on East Austin Neighborhood\u2019s Water Finds Contaminants \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Will Stoerner moved to Austin\u2019s Colony neighborhood in far East Austin, he knew about the water issues<\/a>. For decades, residents have been complaining of hard and discolored water in the area served by Texas Water Utilities, a private service provider, outside the jurisdiction of Austin Water. So in 2020, Stoerner purchased a home filtration system for around $1,800 to be safe: \u201cIt was a cost I was willing to eat at the time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Austin\u2019s Colony residents have had little recourse other than buying filtration devices or bottled water; since their water is owned by a private company, there\u2019s no elected official to complain to, just the notoriously lax<\/a> regulatory body TCEQ. But on June 18, at a community meeting, UT researchers presented residents with the first ever peer-reviewed scientific study<\/a> of their water, published in the science journal PLOS in May.<\/p>\n

UT researchers collected 90 samples from both the faucets of eight individual homes and at the source, wells in and outside the neighborhood, between April 2024 and October 2025. They also partnered with PODER (People in Defense of Earth and Her Resources) to survey the community about their experiences. Of the 271 respondents to the survey, 70% reported discolored water, and only 7% drink tap water without using additional treatment, like water softeners or reverse osmosis systems.<\/p>\n

\"\"David Bahamo\u0301n-Pinzo\u0301n presents research findings regarding the Colony neighborhood\u2019s water quality Credit: Lina Fisher<\/p>\n

Of the 81 samples from the neighborhood, three were found to contain contaminants including lead or arsenic exceeding World Health Organization, Environmental Protection Agency, or Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regulatory limits. Two samples had manganese and iron concentrations exceeding EPA and TCEQ limits. \u201cThere is no amount of lead that is not harmful for the human body,\u201d said David Baham\u00f3n-Pinz\u00f3n, the lead researcher on the study.<\/p>\n

Even without lead, hard water not regulated by health standards can still have adverse effects \u2013 skin and hair issues, buildup in pipes or household appliances. This is reflected in the study: 81% of the samples were classified as hard, 92% of survey respondents reported buildup on faucets, and 68% reported skin problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In light of this study, Stoerner has purchased another reverse osmosis unit, meant for well water that contains heavy metals specifically. \u201cWhen I came out here, I could have bought the one that would filter out the arsenic and the lead. There is no way I would have thought that I would have needed that,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, my wife is pregnant, and there is a 0% chance that I want any lead in our drinking water.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crucially, water samples taken at the source met TCEQ\u2019s regulatory standards. Once they had mixed with other water sources and corrosion in the pipe system, contaminated water came out at residents\u2019 faucets. TCEQ doesn\u2019t test at the faucet to determine whether water meets its regulatory standards.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, households in the northeast of the neighborhood receive softer water from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, while those in the southwest that draw from wells in the neighborhood and in Manor receive harder water. If Texas Water Utilities used more from the Carrizo-Wilcox, mixed with fewer sources, it would \u201clikely decrease hardness and discoloration issues,\u201d posits the study. But as more people move to the area and water scarcity issues persist, there will be more competition for that aquifer.<\/p>\n

Some residents at the June meeting were disgruntled that only eight households were tested \u2013 around 8,000 people live in Austin\u2019s Colony. Jay Banner, a professor in UT\u2019s Department of Geological Sciences and co-author of the study, explained at the meeting that a $7 million grant from the National Science Foundation for this work \u201cgot DOGE\u2019d a year ago, got pulled back. Could we do more? Can we do all the houses? Yeah, we need to pay for people\u2019s time to do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, this study is a huge step in being able to advocate for change. \u201cIt\u2019s our tax dollars that are funding TCEQ,\u201d Banner said. \u201cOne could go to the state Legislature and say TCEQ\u2019s current testing is completely, woefully inadequate. We\u2019re missing everything that happens from the entry point to your house, and the laws should be changed to make the testing much more rigorous.\u201d<\/p>\n

PODER is hosting legislative workshops to teach the community how to advocate in preparation for the 2027 session. \u201cOur goal is to try to change policies and bills to work in our favor,\u201d said PODER\u2019s Bianca Guerrero, who lives and organizes in the neighborhood. But the majority of residents are working people, and showing up at 9am on a Wednesday to navigate the winding halls of the Capitol is a tall order.<\/p>\n

Until something changes, Austin\u2019s Colony residents are paying several times more than Austin Water customers for worse service. Stoerner\u2019s newest filtration unit<\/a> cost him $225. Texas Water Utilities\u2019 base charge is $59.39 per month \u2013 Austin Water\u2019s is $7.75. The average Austin Water bill<\/a> ranges from $40-80 a month, and Stoerner\u2019s last bill was almost $300 \u2013 not to mention the hundreds he will spend each year on replacement filters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TWU told KUT earlier this year<\/a> that it had invested $6.3 million in 2025 to replace pipe infrastructure in the neighborhood, and the day after the UT meeting, Stoerner received an email detailing further improvements to the hardness of the water. Starting in June, there was an extra charge on Stoerner\u2019s bill called \u201cDocket 58682\u201d for $26, referring to an ongoing rate case<\/a> with the state\u2019s Public Utility Commission over TWU\u2019s application to recoup $81 million in improvement costs, which has drawn hundreds of ratepayer protests over the last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil legislation changes, [the neighborhood is] not going to see a lower water bill for a minute,\u201d Stoerner said. \u201cAnd I have zero choice in the matter. I can\u2019t argue with them and say, \u2018Hey, don\u2019t you think that\u2019s a little high? Can you tell me where my money\u2019s going?\u2019 You can\u2019t f\u2013 us in the pocket and provide poor service. That\u2019s un-American. It\u2019s one or the other, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

This article appears in July 10 \u2022 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Will Stoerner moved to Austin\u2019s Colony neighborhood in far East Austin, he knew about the water issues.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,129811,1551,102483,4701],"class_list":["post-366697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-colony","tag-feature","tag-poder","tag-tceq"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}