Due to low levels at Lake Brownwood, water providers across Brown County are asking customers to voluntarily reduce their use of water or they will be facing mandatory restrictions as soon as next week.
Dennis Spinks, General Manager of the Brown County Water Improvement District (BCWID), said in a press conference that the district met with their water wholesalers Wednesday, which includes the cities of Brownwood, Bangs, Early, Santa Anna as well as the Brookesmith SUD and Zephyr Water Corporation, to all initiate their Stage 1 drought contingency plans. Stage 1 of the plans call for voluntary reductions in water usage from the public.
“They are asking the public to voluntarily reduce the water from 6-10% of what is being used at this time,” Spinks said.
According to Spinks, if the BCWID does not see at least a 6% reduction in water usage through voluntary reductions by customers in a week, all of the entities will enter Stage 2 of the plan, which will include mandatory water restrictions to be implemented.
Irrigation water users who purchase directly from BCWID will have mandatory restrictions imposed on them within the next few days Spinks said. Details of these restrictions are being finalized by the district at this time.
“We are probably looking at a 20-25% reduction in irrigation water,” Spinks said. “There is as much irrigation water going through our system as there is treated water.”
Lake Brownwood, which is the water source for BCWID and its wholesalers, is nearly 12 feet below spillway level which is the trigger point for Stage 2 of the district’s drought contingency plan. Spinks said that he expects the lake to hit that level, which is 1413 feet mean sea level (msl), by tomorrow. The BCWID board of directors authorized Spinks to initiate Stage 2 of the plan when the water levels reach that mark, but after speaking with the district’s wholesalers, he realized that most of them had not initiated Stage 1 of their own plans.
“What we are trying to do is get all of our wholesale customers, entities from the city of Brownwood and all of the rest of them, with the same time-frame. We will then re-evaluate next Wednesday,” Spinks said. “We need everybody (wholesalers) at Stage 1 right now. Some of the plans they had in place required them to be at Stage 1 for three days prior to going to Stage 2 so that is why we are delaying it for at least a week.”
Spinks is reviewing the contingency plans of the water wholesalers and will make a proposal to all of them next week as to what type of restrictions will be implemented if needed. He said that he wants all of the restrictions, which will involve outdoor use, to be consistent from place to place to the end customers.
“It’s all going to affect everyone,” Spinks said. “… all of the city managers and general managers of those entities were in that meeting and everyone wanted all the retail customers to be affected equally as far as any restrictions that might be put in place.”
Spinks said that it will be up to each wholesaler to enforce restrictions if they are put into place.
“We will be looking, and each entity will be looking and watching for anyone that is wasting water,” he said. “If you’ve got water running down the street when you are watering the yard, cut it off.”
Spinks said that this is the first time the BCWID had implemented its drought contingency plan, but was not sure if the area ever experienced water restrictions due to low lake levels before the plans were in existence.
“Essentially this is the first time the district has had to use the drought contingency plan,” Spinks said. “In 2000, the lake went down to 10.9 (feet below spillway). There were restrictions about to be put into place at that time, but it rained and filled the lake up so there were no restrictions put into place. As far as I know, there has not been (any restrictions). There’s a possibility in 1978 that there could have been, but not that I am aware of.”
In 1978, Lake Brownwood dropped to 17 feet below spillway level.
Spinks said that about 25 million gallons of water is used each day by customers with 9-12 million gallons of that being treated water going to retail customers. The rest is used for irrigation purposes. He also said that between 5-15 million gallons of water is lost in the lake each day due to evaporation.
“We are losing a big percentage of water to evaporation,” Spinks said. “When it is 100-104 degrees and the wind is blowing, it just sucks the water off the top of that lake.”
Currently, Lake Brownwood contains 67,000 acre feet of water which is 50% of its total capacity, according to Spinks. With 325,851 gallons of water in an acre foot, Lake Brownwood still contains over 21 billion gallons of water.
“There is still plenty of water in Lake Brownwood to meet the demand of our customers, but with the ongoing drought that is occurring right now, the long range forecast, the temperatures and wind that we have, we need to be very cautious on the use of that water,” Spinks said.
Spinks said he was hopeful that many water customers would be cautious in using water during this time, but he said that he believes it is “more than likely” that all water providers will enter Stage 2 of the drought contingency plan by next Wednesday where watering restrictions will be implemented.
“If we can gain voluntary compliance, we may not necessarily have to go to Stage 2,” Spinks said. “If we can reduce our water use 25% on irrigation and 6-10% on treated water, then we will accomplish the goal of the drought contingency plan. “
The city of Brownwood issued a statement Wednesday afternoon announcing that they have implemented Stage 1 of their plan and encourage residents to conserve water.
“This is the time for everyone to be conservative on their own accord,” the statement says. “If everyone does their part, we will achieve our goals and then some. “
The City of Brownwood also offered some tips for outdoor watering in the statement.
“The best way to conserve large amounts of water and maintain a healthy landscape is to water between 6pm in the evening until no later than 10am in the morning, and watch your sprinklers to ensure you don’t run water down the street. More information will be disseminated in the next few weeks.”
Water customers are encouraged to contact their water provider for more tips on outdoor watering conservation.
