City Council to consider water and drought plans
Wichita Falls City Councilors on Tuesday will consider adopting a new Water Conservation and Drought Contingency Plans ordinance.
For residential customers, the only change would be to allow water from yard irrigation to flow 100 feet from the source rather than just 50 feet as previously allowed.
The revised plan also addresses drought restrictions for raw water wholesale industrial customers at Lake Kemp. The measure would require the customer to reduce usage by 10 percent if the lake falls to 50 percent of capacity, 25 percent at 40 percent capacity and 50 percent at 30 percent capacity. The customer would have to halt water use if Lake Kemp drops to 20 percent.
In September 2023 councilors voted to sell Lake Kemp water to billionaires Jerry Jones and Stan Kroenke, owners of the Oklaunion Power Plant in Wilbarger County.
The water plan includes a lengthy discussion of the city’s water needs in the future, describing a dozen possible new sources, including obtaining groundwater from other locations and taking more water from Lake Kemp.
The document concludes there are no feasible alternatives to building a new reservoir, Lake Ringgold, in Clay County. That $440-million project awaits approval by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
In other business, councilors will:
Award $2,319,590 to Freeman Paving LLC for the 2024 Asphalt Rehabilitation Project
Accept a $138,272 grant from the state for HIV prevention
Accept $124, 416 from the state for Public Health Preparedness
Councilors are meeting in the Ray Clymer Exhibit Hall at MPEC while city offices undergo a two-year renovation.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: City Council to consider water and drought plans
