Copperas Cove residents receive questionable bulk mailer, Cedar Park addressee mum on company details

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press 

Copperas Cove residents and business owners have received nondescript bulk mailers on Wednesday, from a questionable source giving a Cedar Park address. 

Inside the mailer is a yellow slip of paper and another smaller, manila envelope with paid return postage simply addressed to PW Labs, 1300 Arrow Point Dr. Ste 501, Cedar Park TX. The yellow paper states “For the next two weeks, we will be conducting water tests for the residents of this community.” 

The form asks for name, address, phone number, signature, and email. It also asks the resident’s status if they own or rent their property, and inquires about the source of their water as well as any conditions they experience with their water. The form does state that the testing is not affiliated with city water or county health departments. Along with the manila envelope and yellow paper is a small plastic vial which can hold a small amount of fluid. 

There was no contact information for PW Labs other than the Cedar Park address, nor was there any opportunity for those furnishing their personal information to “opt out” of any mailing list. The form stated that a signature and phone number are required for test results. 

The physical address on the mailer is the Cedar Park location for T-Werx Coworking, an entrepreneur type center with three locations, to also include Four Points (Austin) and Dripping Springs.

T-Werx provides office space along with conference rooms for small businesses.

Thursday morning phone calls to T-Werx by the Leader-Press failed to reveal more information about “PW Labs” other than mail for PW Labs is being delivered to T-Werx.

“We just get their mail here,” stated a woman, who said she was the owner of T-Werks.

She also declined to give any contact information for PW Labs and said she could not give out direct contact information about the company. 

Initially, she advised “going on the internet” and looking up “PW Labs”, and getting their phone number and calling the company directly. 

“They are for testing water. If you don’t want ‘em, you throw them out,” she said. 

An Internet search for PW Labs yielded no results for any water laboratory testing facility, but instead a company called based in Syracuse, New York, which has received a number of calls asking about the water testing mailers. However, that company doesn’t perform water testing. 

Owned by Jeff and Crystal Kikel, T-Werx names several clients on its website, to include Downsize My Home, BKW Wealth Coaching (owned by Mr. Kikel), author Scholley Bubenik, but no client named “PW Labs.”

One individual, a Kempner Water Supply customer, received the same mailer some time ago and said he received a phone call a week or two later, from someone trying to sell him a water softener system. 

The City of Copperas Cove issued a press release on Wednesday after receiving calls from residents about the mailers. 

“Please note, these mailers are being distributed by a third-party business and are NOT associated with the City of Copperas Cove in any manner. We want to ensure our residents that we have not contracted with, nor are we working with, this particular business. A specific line on the mailer does state ‘not affiliated with city water or county health departments.’

“While some companies recommend that drinking water needs to be tested by an outside source in order to sell unnecessary and expensive filtration systems, the City’s drinking water quality meets or exceeds all state and federal standards and regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Texas Commission on Environment Quality (TCEQ) set regulatory limits for the amounts of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems, and City of Copperas Cove water is tested regularly to ensure those standards are met.”

The City’s 2019 Water Quality Report may be viewed at https://www.copperascovetx.gov/files/water/2019.PDF. Questions or concerns may be directed to Public Information Officer Kevin Keller at kkeller@copperascovetx.gov or (254) 547-4221 ext. 6243.