Tyler Croft started having water problems right away after he and his wife moved to the Austin's Colony neighborhood in far East Austin two years ago.
First, it was the dishwasher. Cups and plates came out caked in white residue. Then, they noticed the taste; it was chalky and bitter. Once, while grabbing a glass of water, Croft turned on the tap and it came out brown.
"That was the first sign that we knew we had to get something installed," Croft said.
He installed a water softener system under the kitchen sink. Then, after he noticed his skin was getting dry and his newborn daughter started developing eczema, he put filters on the showerheads. Next came a bigger water softener system out in the garage.
All told, Croft said he's spent about $5,000 on softener and filtration systems to make the water in his home "acceptable."
That's on top of the cost of the water itself.
Water issues in the neighborhood have persisted for decades. Residents have long complained of bad tastes, ruined appliances and high water bills.
People in the Austin's Colony neighborhood are outside of the service area for Austin Water. Instead, they are served by a for-profit company called Texas Water Utilities (TWU). The company serves small pockets across 32 counties in Texas — neighborhoods similar to Austin's Colony that are just outside a city's service area.
Before turning on the tap, the company charges Austin's Colony residents a $59.39 base fee for water — more than seven times the cost of Austin Water's base fee — and a $79.19 base fee for sewer services.
Croft showed KUT News his water bill from February. The total came out to $221.79. The cost of the water he actually used was less than $40.
'Ask about the water before you buy here'
A few months ago, a resident put up an 8-by-4-foot sign near the neighborhood entrance on Webberville Road to warn newcomers. In big block letters, it reads: "ASK ABOUT THE WATER BEFORE YOU BUY HERE."
Richard Hilaman said he wished he knew about the neighborhood's water quality issues before renting a house down the street from the Croft's.
He can't use his dishwasher, either. For him, it's a drying rack.
"The water is so bad here," he said. "If you try to wash dishes they come out looking dirty."
Hilaman said his hot water heater "gurgles" when he takes a shower. He said his landlord told him he's had to replace at least three water heaters at his properties.
A few houses down from Hilaman, big, blue plastic water jugs line the walkway to Lin Ling's front door. He speaks Chinese, but he told KUT News through a translation app that those jugs are his drinking water. He said he doesn't drink the tap water after noticing yellow-ish substances in it.
The effects of hard water
The water flowing from the taps in Austin's Colony comes from a local well, plus water pumped from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer.
The dry skin, funny taste and the white residue on dishes is likely caused by hard water — water with high concentrations of minerals like magnesium and calcium that can cause plumbing issues and appliance failures.
People in the Austin's Colony area have dealt with hard water for decades, but since there are no known adverse health risks, hard water is not regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency or the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
In its most recent water quality report in 2024, TWU reported three water samples averaged out to a hardness level of 260 milligrams per liter.
For reference, more than 60 milligrams per liter is considered moderately hard water by the U.S. Geological Survey.
But TWU's Vice President of Operations Tim Williford said this data "doesn't align" with new water hardness levels the company recorded in February after taking steps to make the water softer. Williford said the company spent about $6.3 million in 2025 to replace aging pipes in Austin's Colony and purchase more water from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, which makes the water softer.
Four water samples taken in February by TWU staff had an average hardness of just 50 milligrams per liter, the company said. TCEQ-verified samples from those same sites won't be available until 2027.
'If we pee, we don't flush'
Richard Franklin is skeptical of the new water hardness samples, and TWU's claim that improvements have been made to the area's water quality.
Franklin said earlier this month, his wife went to draw a bath and brown-tinged water filled the tub.
In the 20 years he's lived in Austin's Colony, he said he's "lost track" of how many times he's had to replace his dishwasher — maybe three or four times. He's replaced both of the toilets in his house. A few years ago, he said he went to replace the pipes underneath his sink, and they were so corroded they fell apart in his hands.
Over time, the cost of routinely replacing appliances has added up. Franklin said he's also seen his water bill get more expensive as TWU tacks on "system improvement charges" to pay for the cost of big infrastructure upgrades.
Franklin's February water bill totaled $161.16. His actual water usage cost less than $14, and his sewer usage was less than $3.
"[We] literally have gotten to the point where if we pee, we don't flush," he said. "In the land of fun and sun, we don't flush for number one."
Franklin and Croft, along with dozens of other Texas Water Utilities customers throughout the state, have formally protested some of these system improvement charges with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which regulates water rates in the state. It's been a long process.
Croft's effort to protest a recent $16 increase has taken months of back and forth with TWU and the Public Utility Commission. Franklin went through the same back and forth a few years ago, and ultimately lost.
So a few months ago, he thought of a different strategy.
He put up the "ASK ABOUT THE WATER BEFORE YOU BUY HERE" sign on Webberville Road.
"The thought process is, why don't we have the developers not be able to sell their homes in this area? And have them go to the Legislature, and force private water companies to do what's affordable and livable," he said. "That's what that sign was for. Was to pit the people with the money against the people with the money."
So far, Franklin said he hasn't noticed the sign hasn't spur any movement on the developers' part. But he does think the sign has made an impact, because Travis County's Transportation and Natural Resources Department is making him take it down.
"Somebody complained about it, so we know it made noise," he said. "Although I think it's funny because we have a sign about our community meeting every month … and it's never been touched, nobody's ever said a word about it. But the sign that's directly above it, they're asking me to take that sign down."
Franklin said he's not giving up, though. He found a new place to put up a sign on private property. He said his next one will be almost twice as big.
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