What’s the deal with the fire hydrants?

Out of all water lines in the Apache Shores service area, 75% provide inadequate or NO fire flow. Of those water lines: 15% of all water lines in AS provide less than full fire flow. These are 6” lines that pass between 900-1000 gallons per minute (gpm). Fully rated fire flow is 1500 gallons per minute 60% of all water lines in AS provide NO FIRE FLOW.

Don’t confuse “flow” (in gallons per minute) with “pressure” (in psi/pounds per square inch).

The proposed waterline replacements are to increase the size of the water lines to provide adequate fire flow for the fire department to fight fires.

Click here to go to the WCID17 interactive GIS map, where you can zoom in to Apache Shores, look up your street and find the nearest fire hydrants (the bright red dots). Many streets do not have a single fire hydrant on them, while on other streets they are spaced too infrequently to meet code. This is a problem that was created by the original developer of Apache Shores - cutting corners to save money.

Travis County and City of Austin Wildfire Risk Map