Conservation News
Watering a thirsty city: Conservation a priority as summer heats up
By Brent Flynn, [email protected]
Despite higher levels of rainfall in the last two years, long-term planning and conservation is necessary to avoid future water shortages.
"Even though the lake is full, were asking citizens to water on garbage pick up days only and not to water on Sundays," Lewisville's director of water utilities Carole Bassinger said. "That allows us to re-charge our storage tank and it helps us manage our peak usage."
The water level of Lewisville Lake determines what watering schedules residents will be asked to observe since all of the city's drinking water is pumped from the lake. The conservation level of the lake is 522 feet above sea level. The current level of the lake is 522.35, warranting only voluntary water conservation procedures. At this time in 2000, the level was 509.76, which required more severe, but still voluntary conservation measures.
"Anything below 510 is something we get concerned about," Bassinger said. "In the summer of 2000 the situation was considerably worse than today. We put flyers on doors and asked them to restrict usage to garbage pick up days between 5 and 9 a.m. and 7 and 11 p.m. That's not what we're requesting now."
Bassinger explained that stage one of Lewisville's water conservation and drought management plan went into effect in the summer of 2000. Stage 2 includes mandatory measures enforced by citations for non-compliance. Stage 3 is a water emergency when the city restricts all non-essential water usage and would represent a catastrophic failure of the system.
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