News Briefs: Water Outage in Austin Influenced by Obscure Gear Switch

Power outage issues during the recent storms that led to a boil-water notice at Ullrich Water Treatment Plant in Austin, Texas, were related to a 52-year-old gear switch that staff members didn’t know how to operate, KVUE News reports. Texas regulations require water treatment facilities to have backup power sources or water reserves in case of power outages, and the plant has both. However, after a tree limb took out power at the plant, no one immediately knew how to operate the gear switch that would have restored power, causing the facility to become inoperable for three hours while water reserves