Water Conservation and Drought Contingency Plan

U.S. Drought Monitor

Texas Water Matters web site - Conservation

Stage 1 of the city of Terrell's Water Conservation and Drought Contingency Plan (the Plan) was effective June 20, 2006. Our area is experiencing below normal rainfall. Several area cities are now at various stages of their Water Conservation and Drought Contingency Plans.

Triggers for Stage 1 of the Plan include when at least one of the following conditions exists.
1) The total daily water demand exceeds 80 percent of the safe operating capacity for three consecutive days.
2) The total daily water demand exceeds 95 percent of the safe operating capacity on a single day.
3) The New City Lake at Elmo recedes 5 feet below spillway.

The safe operating capacity of the water treatment plant is 6.2 million gallons of water per day. The total daily water demand has exceeded 80 percent of the safe operating capacity for three consecutive days. The water treatment plant is treating an average day of about 5.4 million gallons of water. The New City Lake at Elmo has receded 5.7 feet below spillway. Two of the three triggers for Stage 1 have occurred.

The goal for Stage 1 is to achieve a voluntary five percent (5%) reduction in total water use and to manage limited water supplies and/or reduce water demand.

Customers will be informed of the stage 1 condition by mail on the next water bill and will be asked to practice water conservation.

If drought conditions do not improve in the next 30 days, the city will need to implement stage 2 of the Water Conservation and Drought Contingency Plan.

Voluntary Water Use Restrictions:

1) Water customers are requested to voluntarily limit the irrigation of landscaped areas to Sundays and Thursdays for customers with a street address ending in an even number (0, 2, 4, 6 or 8), and Saturdays and Wednesdays for water customers with a street address ending in an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7 or 9), and to irrigate landscapes only between the hours of midnight and 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. to midnight on designated watering days.
2) Water customers are requested to practice water conservation and to minimize or discontinue water use for nonessential purposes.
3) All operations of the City shall adhere to water use restrictions prescribed for Stage 2 of the Plan.

The water usage reduction is voluntary but there is also a surcharge to water bills if a reduction in usage is not achieved.

A base water usage allocation will be set using the number of gallons of water used by the customer in this billing period.

1) Should the customer’s water usage exceed the base allocation by more than 5 percent, they will be assessed a surcharge of $1.00 per 1,000 gallons above the base allocation.
2) Should the customer’s water usage exceed the base allocation by more than 10 percent, they will be assessed a surcharge of $2.00 per 1,000 gallons above the base allocation.
3) Should the customer’s water usage exceed the base allocation by more than 15 percent, they will be assessed a surcharge of $3.00 per 1,000 gallons above the base allocation and the City may, at their discretion, place flow restrictors in the customer’s line.
4) If a leak on the customer’s premises goes uncorrected more than thirty days after the customer has been notified of the condition, the City may, at their discretion, terminate water service to the premises until the leak is repaired.

  Texas Water Development Board Conservation Program

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Water Sense Program