By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-991892.mp3
Dallas, TX – New watering restrictions go into effect Tuesday for customers of the North Texas Municipal Water District, just east of Dallas near Lake Lavon. KERA's Shelley Kofler reports homeowners and businesses will be affected.
Nearly three dozen communities and retail providers get their water from The North Texas Municipal Water District. That's about 1.6 million customers. Like nearly every district in Texas, it's battling the loss of water in reservoirs because of drought. But for these customers the situation is even more dire.
Nearly 28% of the district's water normally comes from Lake Texoma, b. But that supply has been cut off to prevent the invasive zebra mussel in Texoma from spreading.
So beginning Tuesday customers will be allowed to water their yards and landscapes just twice a month. Each city or provider that contracts with the district will tell residents and businesses which days they can water and how the restrictions will be enforced.
The district's Denise Hickey says the restrictions should not jeopardize most yards.
Hickey: We are moving into a time when our lawns go dormant so we are recommending our communities just turn their irrigations systems off. And if needed to supplement without any natural rainfall they can manually turn on their irrigations systems.
Hickey says the North Texas Municipal Water District is planning for additional water from new sources, including Lake Tawakoni. It's also appealing to the Army Corp of Engineers for the limited use of water from Lake Texoma.
Hickey: This would allow for a seasonal pumping during a time when the zebra mussels are not spawning. So that would prevent the transfer of zebra mussels into the Trinity basin.
In addition to the twice-a-month water limitation, the stage 3 restrictions prohibit most draining and refilling of swimming pools; halt non-essential city water use like street cleaning; limit golf course watering and the planting of new landscapes.
The restrictions will be in place through March 31.
Related Link: ntmwd.com