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Astound has begun the next phase of their Fiber Installation project. Below is a map for this additional area of construction, with the impacted areas boundary shown in gold. The phases and areas are determined by each individual utility company. The projects are not necessarily constructed in numerical or geographical order. As a reminder, the City is not contracted to install fiber in our community. Each fiber company is an independent utility, similar to Oncor and Atmos. There are currently eight fiber companies permitted to work within the City’s public utility easements and street right of way. The City does not control the timeline nor contractors for these fiber installations. Please know that Astound will have construction projects in different parts of the City through the end of 2026.
Residents in the impacted area will see flags in their yard starting to appear. It is important to leave those public utility flags in place because they show the location and type of existing utilities that are located underground. This is done for the safety of the workers and to minimize disruption of your utility services.
All of Astound’s work will be done in the Public Right-of-Way or within public utility easements. Please note that the existing public utility easements may be in your back yard, side yard or front yard. Some of their work will be above ground and some will be beneath ground. Astound may request to access your backyard utility easement via your gate in order to not have to take down your side yard fence to access the easement. Astound will place door hangers in the neighborhoods where they will be working. Specific questions regarding repair of yards after construction can be directed to Astound’s Construction Supervisor, Billy Bierschwale, at 254-228-0130.
The Environmental Protection Agency has recently released updated guidelines for lead and copper monitoring for public drinking water providers throughout the country. The new guidelines, known as Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), require water systems to prepare an inventory of service line materials by October 2024.
The service line is the piping that connects the home or business to the water main. The city and the property owner share ownership of the service line. The city owns the portion from the main to the water meter, including the water meter. The property owner is responsible for the portion from the meter to the point it enters the home or business, as well as all the plumbing in the home or building.
Under the new LCRR requirements, the city must identify service lines, including both the city-owned portion and the customer-owned portion, which might contain lead. Currently, there are no known lead service lines in Harker Heights’ water systems. However, efforts to identify the service line material for each service line connecting to the city’s water systems are ongoing.