Written by Amanda Coers – Hot summers are certainly not unusual to the Brownwood area. The chance of rain in the next 10 days is forecasted to be very low. The Brown County Water Improvement District (BCWID) is currently experiencing mild drought conditions and encourages all citizens to help conserve water resources. Currently the City of Brownwood is enacting water loss preventative measures through its Parks and Recreations department with some adjustments to irrigations schedules, monitoring splash pads for usage, quick action on leak repairs, and more.

 

 

BCWID listed the area’s water system under Stage 1 water-use voluntary restrictions as of June 21, 2018. This means that water use is restricted in the following ways:

  • Customers are encouraged to limit nonessential water use to prevent further restrictions.
  • Customers are specifically encouraged to limit watering for landscape use, and to only water after 7 p.m. and before 10 a.m.
  • All controllable leaks must be repaired within a reasonable time.

For updates on water-use restrictions, visit BCWID.org. With the June 21st update, BCWID listed the current Lake level at 76.1% full with a volume of 100,031 ac.ft. This represents a four year supply of water at current usage rates without any rainfall.

It’s not an emergency by any means, but the city is taking a proactive stance with several adjustments to their care of 19 parks spread out over Brownwood totaling 317 acres. A release from the City of Brownwood detailed their approach:

Aquatics Irrigation and Splash Pads

  • Irrigation on from 10:30PM until 12:45AM to reduce the rate of evaporation with the three zones.
  • Continue to monitor and adjust any irrigation heads from overspray on swimming pool deck and parking areas.
  • Perform continual irrigation audits.
  • Splash Pads will be monitored for usage and hours may be curtailed, during stages 2-5, if target water reductions by the city are not met by other methods.

Sports Complexes Irrigation

  • Irrigation on from 11:30PM until 5:30AM to reduce the rate of evaporation.
  • Continue to monitor and adjust and irrigation heads from overspray onto walkways, parking lots, fairways and infield clay areas.
  • Perform continual irrigation audit.
  • After making irrigation repairs will turn on system one zone at a time to make adjustments.

Parks

  • The Parks Department has 12 automatic timers and 5 manual timers. The majority of the timers are set to come on Monday through Friday. The timers will be changed to limit watering to two days per week.  All timers, are programed to water after midnight and to turn off by 7AM depending on need. 
  • Continue to monitor and adjust and irrigation heads from overspray onto walkways, parking lots, and streets.
  • Perform continual irrigation audits.

Texans know how to be smart with their water usage. While the city is working to be responsible stewards with our water resources, the community can also work together to help. Using water responsibly is essential during a drought, though ours is mild at this point. The following habits are great ways to conserve water in your community:

  1. Don’t run the water while brushing your teeth.
  2. Fill the sink with a minimum amount of water while shaving.
  3. Use leftover ice cubes to water house plants.
  4. Take shorter showers.
  5. Check your toilets and faucets for leaks. Faucet leaks can waste up to 3,000 gallons of water a year and a leaking toilet can waste up to 73,000 gallons of water a year.
  6. Call your water provider to assist with potential leaks.
  7. Install inexpensive faucet aerators to cut in half the amount of water used by each faucet.
  8. Fill the dishwasher before using. Scrape plates efficiently and skip the rinsing to save on water usage.
  9. If you need to remove dirt and debris from the driveway, steps, or sidewalk, use a broom rather than a hose.
  10. The best way to wash your car is to take it to a commercial car wash where the water can be recycled. A basic wash only costs around $5 and probably does a more thorough job. However, if you don’t have the time or the cash to spare, fill up a bucket full of water and use that to sponge down the car. A bucket holds about two gallons of water, so compared to a five-minute hose-down, you’ll save anywhere from 23 to 98 gallons.