Cedar Park enters Stage 3 water conservation measures amid drought conditions

CEDAR PARK, Texas - The City of Cedar Park is moving to stage 3 water conservation measures amid ongoing drought conditions in Central Texas.

This includes a change in customers’ mandatory outdoor watering schedules.

What are stage 3 water conservation measures?

What we know:

Starting March 1, Cedar Park water customers may water one designated day per week. Stage 3 also includes stricter water conservation measures, including a temporary water conservation rate adjustment. However, the city is giving its customers a grace period to get adjusted.

The city will start enforcing stage 3 water conservation measures on March 31.  

The new outdoor watering schedules and measures are outlined below:

• New residential outdoor watering schedule:Addresses ending in 1 and 3 water on WednesdayAddresses ending in 4, 6 and 8 water on ThursdayAddresses ending in 5, 7 and 9 water on SaturdayAddresses ending in 0 and 2 water on Sunday
• Addresses ending in 1 and 3 water on Wednesday
• Addresses ending in 4, 6 and 8 water on Thursday
• Addresses ending in 5, 7 and 9 water on Saturday
• Addresses ending in 0 and 2 water on Sunday
• New commercial outdoor watering schedule:All commercial addresses (including apartments and HOA-owned property addresses) water on Tuesday
• All commercial addresses (including apartments and HOA-owned property addresses) water on Tuesday

Customers may water before 10 a.m. and/or after 7 p.m. on their designated watering day.

All this information, including answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) and helpful videos on how to program your automatic irrigation system may be found here.  

Why is Cedar Park undergoing water restrictions?

What we know:

Lake Travis is the City of Cedar Park’s sole water supply. It is managed by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA).

Moving to Stage 3 is implemented when the combined storage of Lakes Travis and Buchanan is below 1.1 million acre-feet and the prior three months of inflows are less than the 25th percentile of historic inflows for that three-month period. 

In Stage 3, the LCRA, manager of the water supply, calls for a 20% reduction in overall water consumption.  

The City’s Stage 3 Water Conservation Measures aim to meet the LCRA call to reduce the City’s overall water consumption now that the combined storage levels have fallen below that threshold in the Drought Contingency Plan.