Several Brown County cities and water providers began easing water restrictions Tuesday after recent rains have filled Lake Brownwood to 96% capacity. At that level, local drought contingency plans call for eliminating water restrictions, but some area water providers were not quite willing to ease up as much as others from the Stage 3 restrictions.
Currently, the City of Brownwood and City of Bangs have removed all water restrictions from their residents, but strongly encourage conservation efforts by the public.
Bangs City Administrator Leo Smith stated that his council believed that the Drought Contingency Plan needed to be followed to keep the integrity of the plan. He stated that the City of Bangs is asking residents to utilize voluntary conservation efforts.
Brownwood City Manager Bobby Rountree said Tuesday that his council believes it is important to follow the Drought Contingency Plan that has been adopted with the current trigger points.
“We are going to follow the plan. Just as the other cities, we cannot enforce restrictions if the trigger points show there are no restrictions,” Rountree stated. “We are willing to sit down and consider if these trigger points need to be adjusted. We are fine with that, but for right now, we feel like we need to follow the plan as it has been approved. Restrictions will be lifted.”
The Brown County Water Improvement District moved from Stage 3 restrictions to Stage 2 restrictions at their board meeting Tuesday night. The board was split on a course of action during several attempted votes and compromised on Stage 2 which will affect lakefront property owners who use lake water as well as their irrigation customers. BCWID board members said that they would like to monitor the lake levels for 30 days before considering easing restrictions further.
“I don’t think that anyone on this board wants the public to forget what it was like in 2011 and what it could be like later this summer or the next summer,” said BCWID General Manger Dennis Spinks. “I think that we all need to be aware that conservation needs to continue in some form or fashion.”
The City of Early followed the water district’s lead Tuesday and also went from Stage 3 to Stage 2 restrictions.
“At current lake levels of just over 1424 feet, the drought contingency plan calls for no restrictions, however the (Water) District felt that a more conservative approach was necessary,” said City of Early Administrator Tony Aaron. “The City of Early’s Drought Contingency Plan models that of Brown County Water Improvement District and all stages of restrictions are paralleled.”
Aaron said that they will also revisit the issue next month and he encouraged all citizens to be “mindful of the lingering drought conditions.”
These Stage 2 restrictions call for watering twice per week with the following restrictions:
- Odd number addresses can water on Monday and Thursday
- Even number addresses can water on Tuesday and Friday
- No watering between the hours of 9 AM and 7 PM
For more information about current water restrictions in your area, please visit your water provider’s website.
