For more than a decade, residents of Austin’s Colony, a neighborhood in an unincorporated area of southeast Austin outside the city service area, have voiced concern about their tap water’s intermittent discoloration and extreme hardness.
In a study published in the journal PLOS Water, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin took a closer look at water quality from April 2024 to October 2025, working with residents and the community group PODER to collect information and water samples from across the neighborhood.
The study revealed evidence of contamination, with some samples exceeding state regulatory standards for lead, arsenic and other contaminants. However, the contamination appears to happen after the water—which is supplied from three different sources by a private water company—is mixed together in the neighborhood’s water system…