Water samples from Austin’s Colony exceed limits for heavy metals

A new study from UT Austin found several water samples collected from the Austin's Colony neighborhood in the far eastern part of the city exceeded regulatory guidelines for lead and other heavy metals. For decades, residents in the area have been at odds with its water provider, a for-profit company, we're going to have an update, and the Austin Independent School District Board voted in favor of more than $200 million in cuts to next year's school budget.

We'll break down the latest numbers coming up on today's show. The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano. The Austin Asian-American Film Fest is gearing up for its 18th iteration, what they've learned and how they're honoring the work that's been done before them, plus stories about pizza. Need I say more? That is coming up next, right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, you are listening to Austin's Signal. I'm your host, Jerry Kiechanel.

Thank you for listening to community-powered public radio. This is KUT News. It is Monday, June 22nd.

A new study from UT Austin found several water samples in the Austin's Colony neighborhood on the east side exceeded regulatory limits for lead and other heavy metals. KUT's Katie McAfee has the story. Researchers gathered 100 samples from different homes in the neighborhood between April 2024 and October 2025. They also examined samples directly from groundwater aquifers that the neighborhood's water utility draws from.

UT research coordinator, David Bauman-Pinson, says what they found was enlightening. You won't find any problems or any issues when you're testing at the source, right? But then when we test at the household is when we start seeing these issues. Three samples of clear, untreated water exceeded regulatory limits for lead, and several samples of discolored water, a common headache for people in the neighborhood, had even higher concentrations of various heavy metals.

Bamenpenson says water samples from households with water softeners or reverse osmosis systems fared better. Many of them did not exceed state or federal regulations. But not everyone has access to those systems, which can cost between $500 and $3,000. Austin's colony resident Bianca Guerrero works part-time while raising three kids.

She says she hasn't been able to afford a water filtration system and is worried because her family has used discolored water to shower, brush their teeth, and cook since they moved to the neighborhood in 2013. My initial reaction was anger, you know, because I've been living here, I've been showering with this, I'm been boiling pasta or cooking with this. Guerrero says she's been concerned about her neighborhood's water quality for years.

She's called representatives from the city, county, and the Public Utility Commission, but hasn't seen meaningful change. She hopes this study will be the turning point. I'm Katie McAfee in Austin. Over the past several weeks a lot of numbers have been thrown around and talked about when it comes to Austin ISD's school budget for the 2026-27 school year.

The latest number being talked about is the $205 million budget reduction that has allowed librarians to stay on campus this upcoming school year, here to talk more about that and what's to

come is Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez, she is KUT's education reporter, welcome back to the show, great time. Hi Jerry! So, if I remember correctly, we were talking about a number somewhere in, like, a $180 million ballpark. Where did this $205 million number come from? Yes, you're right. We were talking about one hundred and eighty one million dollars, but the budget deficit that was back in May, then that number went up to one hundred and eighty five million.

And then the number came up to two hundred and five because million dollars because the budget deficit from the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six school year also went up. It had been approved at 19 million and then it went up to ninety five million by June. So that means the district would have to dip into its savings account or what they called fund balance to make up for the 2025-2026, which affects the 2026-2027.

A district normally aims to having 20% of its expenses in its fund balance or in its savings. And this year when the budget was proposed at early June, that was 10% for next year for the 20 26-20 27. So trustees as the district, you know what? We need to have more money in that savings account. Let's bring it up. And district officials went looking for extra $20 million to cut from the operation costs so they could have more in the fund balance, which is now 13% or will be 13%.

Okay, well, tell us about, let's talk about some of these budget reductions. Where should we start? Yeah. So the budget reduction, it's really bringing down the district's operational cost. So how much the district spends every year. In May, the district had projected spending $1 billion, $31 million in their operational costs. They brought it down. For AISD, 87% of its operational costs are payroll. They're humans. It's paying people.

So those cuts, of course, affected or will be affecting teachers, central office staff, things we have already spoken about here quite a bit. Uh, so after this vote was approved last week, um, are things now pretty much set in stone? I- this feels like a process that's been playing out and playing out, and playing out. Where are we now in that process? Yeah, for the most part things are set in stone.

One thing that happened during the board meeting, and it was a very last minute thing, was trustees asked the district to save librarians. So every school will have a librarian, but that means the district will have to go into its fund savings or into its savings account. And so in August, they will come back to the board with a proposal, an amendment proposal of this new budget. Also, the district. While finding those $20 million, they have to make extra cuts at central office.

So they're expecting to make reductions worth 17 million at central offices. And we're still waiting to see how many positions that will affect. As of now, the district will, 582 positions will be affected. 196 of those are vacancies that will be completely eliminated, but the rest are humans that will be affected one way or another. AISD is also considering other money making measures, can you tell us more about that?

Yeah, they are planning on selling or leasing properties that will make up $60 million. These are properties that were deemed surplus during the board meeting as well. And some of them, or most of them are the properties that came from closing schools next year or for next year. The problem with the sales is that it's a one-time thing. So if you sell a property, then you cannot make more money out of it.

So there are 60 million, those 60 million that the district will also have to make up for the 2027, 2028 school year. So we'll see what happens then. Okay, we only have about 30 seconds left. This has been a changing process, even though the school year is over, a lot's still happening. What else stood out to you from last week's meeting and your recent reporting?

I think it's worth hearing or reading what the voices of people affected by these cuts, either families or teachers, educators in general, but also during the meeting, the board approved to extend the superintendent's contract. So that's also in her story. Yeah. Okay, well we're going to have a link to that reporting in today's show notes, and you can always read more over at KUT.org. That is Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez, KUT's education reporter. Greta, thank you. Thank you, Jerry.

Today is the deadline for the City of Austin to submit a plan to the state on how it will remove art painted on city streets, including rainbow pride crosswalks. The Texas Department of Transportation directed the city to remove the art to comply with state and federal rules. The city faces withholding of federal transportation funds if it does not comply.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department says that more than, or some 3 million Texans hunting and fishing license holders may be affected in a recent data breach. The department says Texas Cyber Command recently detected a breach involving a vendor that handles hunting and fishing license sales. Compromised data includes driver license numbers and contact information. And we're in for another hot day in the Austin area.

National Weather Service is predicting a high near 95, but the high humidity could make it feel as hot as 110. Stay cool out there. Keep it tuned in. To KUT, this is Austin Signal. This is Austin Signal, welcome back. This Wednesday, the Austin Asian American Film Festival kicks off at AFS Cinema, highlighting works by Asian diasporic and Asian American filmmakers. This will be the festival's 18th

year. Joining us now is Hannah Huang, Executive Director of the festival, and Naya Aziz, the festival artistic director. Thank you all for being with us. Yeah, thanks for having us. Thanks for having. So the festival is in its 18th year. It's a fully formed adult now, it sounds like. Can you talk a little bit about how the festival has grown over the past 18 years and maybe how it's stayed true to itself at the same time? I don't know about fully grown. Are you really a fully grown adult?

This is Hannah, by the way. That's literally what I was thinking too. I was like, hmm. Yeah, I mean, I was not that much older than 18 and probably like 20. I definitely was in 21, I would remember that. When I first went to my first film festival, Austin Asian American Film Festival, and at that time it was run by Masashi Nowano who then ended up going to CAMFest, Center for Asian American Medias. Film Festival and leading that for 11 years.

So we have like Asian American Film Festival royalty essentially in our lineage and the festival the way it started was it was a student group at UT called Cinema Asia. It was just a group of students that had taken a Korean film class and Two years ago, we did a whole exhibit about our history Which actually spans more than 20 years if you go back to that Cinema Asia group And then they eventually started what was the Austin Asian Film Festival.

And in 2007, when Masashi took over as our first executive director, I call it our invisible A era because we added the Austin, Asian American. And they had a logo that had an invisible A in it that was still around when I got involved in 2013. So yeah, I think, you know, the festival has grown but really, truly the.

We're a grassroots film community that just wanted to watch some good Asian film and along the way, of course, you're gonna pick up our Asian American filmmakers and so we've really seen that footprint grow in our support and our championing of our filmmakers who are behind the camera. How about you, Nia? Yeah, so I joined Austin Asian in 2020. So it was obviously a very weird time. I had met the programming director through a friend.

I had worked at South by Southwest at the time and she asked like, oh, like, you know, would you like to be a programmer? I think you'd be great. I'm like, I can't. Like I work at South By, like conflict of interest. And then, and then I lost my job because of COVID and I like texted her and I was like, hey, is that job still available?

You know, and So it's been so interesting because my first two fests were virtual, with 2021 having some drive-in stuff, and 2022 really being the first in-person festival for me. And seeing that growth has been incredible. And I've grown so much with the festival. I was a shorts programmer, and then I did some community programming and things. And then Hannah had asked me in 2023 if I was interested in being the artistic director. So this will be my third time.

It just gets more fun, but also more competitive every year with all the films that we get. But just to see the festival grow within the short amount of time that I've been here has just been really, really amazing, yeah. Well, we talked recently with the directors of the Black Autour Film Fest. That's a one-day fest, a three-hour fest. Tell us a little bit more about what's going on this year for your fest. Yeah, well, since a couple of years ago, we expanded to be a five-day festival.

And I think we kind of like where we're at. So the weekdays are in the evening. So people that had like worked during the day can still come out and join in on everything. And then on the weekends, we were going all day. So the weekends are a little rough, but for us at least, but I think for the crowd, I think they like that energy. In. And it really is just such a fantastic event in that we really make a lot of space at our events and parties per day that you can talk about

the film. So it's not just about seeing film in silence together, but also like being in that AFS lobby that I think everyone in Austin that's been there is familiar with and having that electric feeling of being in community together and just talking to the filmmakers. You just saw their film on, you know, inside in the theater ad and. Just run into them in the lobby and ask them questions that you have. Yeah, so it's a really nice sense of

camaraderie. It's almost like the best part of the experience is hanging around the lobby and seeing people's faces or whatever it might be. Yeah, and we have some films that start after seven on the weekdays, so come on out. So I might be able to make it. Okay, well tell us, I know it's hard to pick from everything, I'm sure you're really proud of everything that's going to be featured in the fest, but tell us a little bit more.

I understand there's gonna be like a virtual reality element to this event. What is that gonna look like? There is, yeah. So that's with our Taiwan Academy, and we've been working with them for several years now, but we have one film that was made pre-COVID, and that's the VR film, so it's about 15 minutes. You'll get to put on the headset and experience the film. It is 18 plus, so, it's not explicit, but it does have some sexual content.

And we flown the filmmaker and the editor from Taiwan as well. But after watching that VR film in kind of like a semi-private setting, you're gonna get together in a room with the same cohort of people who watched the virtual reality or experienced the virtuality in a a room that's adjacent and be able to watch a short film that he made post COVID. Or the inception came during COVID and the quarantine, but then he made it inspired by that.

Well, the fest is happening this weekend, but it sounds like the programming is year-round. What's the best way for people to keep up with those screenings and the events that y'all are hosting? Probably our website, yeah. Or if you're on socials like Instagram, we're on there too. Our website is aaafilmfest.org. Lots of A's. Three A's, don't forget the invisible one.

That's why I was like I'm gonna let her say that I'm like all the A's All right, we have been speaking with Hannah Huang and Neha Aziz, Executive Director and Artistic Director of the Austin Asian American Film Festival. We're gonna have a link to the festival information in today's show notes. Thank y'all for coming out. Thank you. An Austin nonprofit arts group hosted this month its fourth annual Stories About event out at Austin Film Society Cinema. This year's storytelling theme was pizza.

As Ella Kopaken reports for KUT's Art Beat, the evening focused on the universal connection of food. Audience members seated in Theater 1 at AFS Cinema last Thursday night weren't the usual moviegoers. Instead, they were there for pizza. Mary Tyson attended with her daughter and husband of 39 years. Well, I love pizza. His name is Pizza Man because he loves pizza.

Our first date was pizza the event was stories about pizza a storytelling show featuring an original short film pizza My heart followed by a variety of original minute-long pizza pieces from songs to flash fiction to drag Performances to poems to stories like Jacob Duffy how Biebs pizza is pizza is Pizza Pizza is pizza is pizza.

People pontificate pointlessly upon pizza positions providing Protestant prospects, proving that posturing, peacocking, and preeminence are perceived priority part of the populace. There is no bad type of pizza. There is bad pizza, but there is no that style. This pizza night was the fourth annual Stories About event. Every year has had a different theme. The first in 2023 was comfort food, then birth order, unique jobs, and now pizza.

Christine Huang created Stories About and wrote and starred in Pizza My Heart. She's the founder of Color Arc, the non-profit production company behind both projects. It's goofy, it's very wholesome, it is very heart forward and it's vulnerability and connection through food. Launched Color Arc Productions in 2015 with the goal of promoting central Texas stories rooted in diverse perspectives and told through diverse mediums.

I founded it because I was producing my very first play when I was also like a practicing attorney and a young mom. And now we've produced several plays, storytelling shows, and now short films. And I quit my job. Now I'm doing nonprofit artistic work full time. She created Stories About as a way to connect with fellow storytellers after the pandemic. When you share in a room full of almost strangers, you feel like you're taking part of something so private and sacred and special.

And yeah, maybe like a little bit holy, and that's what live art can. She dedicated the first year of Stories About to comfort food, after realizing how much of her own artistic work was grounded in the joy of the food she made and grew up around. Memories that are inherent. When you're talking about food or smells or who made it for you, what you felt like when you ate it, what you felt, like when, you didn't have enough of it.

There are so many things that came forth from that night that it became an annual thing. Pizza My Heart, Color Arc's first short film, also grew out of the pandemic. The film's story follows a heartbroken girl, played by Hwang's 12-year-old daughter, and a pizza delivery woman who comforts her, played by Huang. ACC commissioned me to write a radio play, and the prompt was pizza delivery. So then I just started talking, I was like, what are the pizza deliveries? Someone's got to deliver

the pizza. What if it's a singing delivery specialist and she has a jingle? What if the jingle is to a little girl, though? And what if they connect? Last year, PBS announced it would distribute the short. To celebrate, Hwang decided to make the next stories about a pizza palooza. She reached out to Via 313 to supply pizza for the night. After hearing her idea, the company decided to sponsor the event. This is Jesse Galeotto-Grieby, Via 3 13's marketing director.

With Color Arc, it was an easy alignment for us to go, oh, we get to celebrate Austin and art and give back and help to invigorate these communities that we show up in. With a sponsor in place and AFS as the venue for the second year in a row, Huang put out an open call for original short pizza performances. She challenged applicants to make their stories a minute or less. One person submitted an abstract comedy dance, and her hands and her arms were just flying like windmills.

She was like, this is my interpretation of putting pizza toppings on a pizza. Felice Triragoff based her series. Of haikus on an elementary school lie. My pizza piece is about my long-term love affair with Book It. It's a program where you read books and you earn points for pizza. You know, you had to take a test to prove that you read the book. I told my teacher, with a straight face, I said Anna Karenina. She loaded the quiz. I failed it spectacularly. I got got by Anna Karenena.

Some of the other pizza pieces were less light-hearted. Lynn Mikeshka performed a song about a situationship gone wrong while strumming a ukulele. People say that love is like pizza even when it's bad it's good But I can tell from the way that you touch me That you don't want me like you Hwang pieced together a lineup that emphasized the unity of pizza. Here's Jesse Gagliotto-Greeby from Via 313 again.

You go from pizza at a children's birthday party, pizza when you move into your first apartment, pizza when your bribe your friends to help you move in to your first house. You know, pizza comes with these milestones and celebrations and I just trusted that color arc had a vision and was going to bring that to life. And food is staying a theme for color arc. Next short film. Hwang is adapting a story her mom first told at stories about comfort food. Sweet Potato Pig. I'm directing it.

It's my mom's story. She's a Vietnamese-American refugee and it's her immigrant story told through her food memories. For her, food is the ultimate connector, which also makes it the ultimate story anchor. It's a universal language and the guard comes down and you immediately connect. You might not know someone's language or where they came from, but you know when something tastes good. Because I At the end of the day, we all gotta eat. For KUT's Art Beat, I'm Ellico Pakin, in Austin.

You ordered a pink pizza, my heart. Pizza! There's more from the stories we shared with you in today's podcast show notes and at kut.org slash signal. That is it for us. Thank you for making us part of your Monday. We're going to have some different hosts over the next few days. So be nice to them and keep it tuned in right here to community powered public radio. This is KUT news. Our Austin signal team is Rayna Sevilla, Alexandra Hart and Kristen Cabrera. I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.

We'll be back with you tomorrow. Talk to you then.