Georgetown, Leander issue immediate bans on outdoor watering with irrigation systems
The triple-digit heat wave and pump failures are starting to take a toll on the cities of Georgetown and Leander, both of which ordered residents and businesses on Friday to immediately stop using irrigation systems and sprinklers to conserve water.
Watering using hand-held hoses is still allowed in both cities.
Leander has been unable to provide all the water it has contracted to Georgetown because of pump failures at its raw water barge on Lake Travis, Leander spokesman Mike Neu said.
"Late yesterday, BCRUA (Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority) officials noticed a reduction in raw water intake due to the failure of several raw water pumps on the facility's floating barge," Neu said.
"Currently, BCRUA officials are working to troubleshoot the issue and bring our raw water intake up to full capacity. Leander also is communicating with its water utility stakeholders, including Georgetown, on the status of BCRUA barge pump repairs and other mitigation efforts."
Georgetown will decide Monday whether to extend or increase the restrictions, a Georgetown news release said. Leander will continue the restrictions until further notice, according to a Leander news release. The restrictions are part of both cities' Stage 3 water conservation plans.
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Lake Travis was 49% full on Friday, according to Lower Colorado River Authority data. The lake level was 636.63 feet on Friday, more than 30 feet below its average July level of 667.15 feet, according to the LCRA.
Georgetown and Leander officials are contacting large developers, homeowner associations and high users of water to inform them that they must stop watering outdoors.
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"We need every one of our water customers to immediately stop outdoor watering, at least through Monday,” Georgetown Mayor Josh Schroeder said in a news release. “Conserving water this weekend is critical to giving our system enough time to recover, so we can lift these temporary restrictions, but we won't know for sure until Monday.”
Over the past two weeks, water production from Georgetown's water treatment plants has exceeded 90% of capacity on multiple days, triggering an immediate need to conserve water to let the system recover, the release said.
During the summer, 75% of the water produced each day by water treatment plants in Georgetown is used for lawn and landscape irrigation.
"While irrigation is the bulk of the issue, we also have not been receiving the full, contracted amount of treated water from the City of Leander,” City Manager David Morgan said in the release. “Between conservation and some additional capacity coming online this weekend we are hopeful we will not have to extend Stage 3 restrictions beyond Monday.”
Georgetown hopes to receive water from Round Rock this weekend, said Keith Hutchinson, a city spokesman.
All Georgetown city splashpads and city facility irrigation systems will be turned off through Monday, the release said. Municipal pools will remain open because their water use is minimal, and they must be kept open to maintain operations and sanitation, the release said.
For more information on Georgetown's water system, visit water.georgetown.org.
The city of Leander is also turning off all city irrigation systems and seeking to delay any commercial landscape installations or related building activities that might require nonessential water uses, the city's news release said.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Heat wave: Georgetown, Leander issue bans on outdoor watering
