Several Central Texas cities announce water restrictions

TEXAS - While cities like Blanco are in the most severe stage of water restrictions, other Central Texas communities are also announcing restrictions.

Leander is in Stage 3 water restrictions until further notice. 

"Washing more regularly in smaller amounts, so you're not having big baths and things like that," Leander resident Ian MacKinnon said. "We're not doing as much watering in the garden, we're being more specific about plants we're going to water."

The city says this has to be done because of an uptick in demand and less intake from a raw water barge on Lake Travis. Crews noticed some water pumps weren't working and are trying to fix it to bring the intake back up to capacity. 

Leander water customers should turn off irrigation systems. Only hand-held watering is allowed. 

"[Tenants] want their house where they live to look nice, but they also want to abide by community restrictions," property owner Byron Whisnant said.

Elsewhere, Pflugerville is in Stage 1. West Travis County and Liberty Hill are in Stage 2. Llano and Manville Water Supply are in Stage 3. 

The city of Georgetown announced Monday afternoon that the west part of town will stay in Stage 3 until Sept. 4, which means no watering with an irrigation system. The rest of the city can go back to Stage 2, which allows for once-a-week outdoor watering.

The city says this is because of irrigation and water supply issues, as well as the drought.

Residents across different cities wonder about increased development amid water conservation efforts.

"Why on earth is our government encouraging more and more people to move into this area when we've known for years that we have not got enough water," MacKinnon said.

The Brushy Creek Regional Utility, which serves Leander, Cedar Park, and Round Rock, says it's in the midst of a project to improve water capacity and reliability. 

The city of Georgetown says this about new developments:

"Cities are limited in what we can do to restrict growth, predominately because it’s a property rights issue. When developers/landowners submit a plan for their property, it goes through our development and permitting process. If they can meet our development rules, they are entitled to develop their property. We are in the process of updating our development rules to match the vision we adopted in the 2030 Plan. Find out more about the 2030 plan here.  

Enacting a moratorium will do little to stop the development you see now. The developments you see coming online today were vested to their rights 3-5 years ago. It takes about a year for a development agreement to be negotiated with the City; a year to design and permit; and a year to construct infrastructure before the first house in a new subdivision ever receives water from us.  

The developments being negotiated today will pay impact fees, which will help fund the $200 million, 44 million gallon-a-day Southlake Water Treatment Plant. Half of this plant is scheduled to come online in 2025. The Northlake Water Treatment Plant expansion of 8 million gallons per day should come online in the next two months. Learn more about water capital improvement projects here.

Additionally, we have enough treated drinking water for our customers’ daily, domestic uses (i.e., drinking water, showers, toilets, etc.). We only run into capacity issues during the summer months, when the vast majority of our water is used to irrigate lawns. That is why we ask for communitywide participation in conservation efforts, particularly in the summer. Conservation is easy, and something everyone can do."

Check your city or water provider's website for all the specific rules where you live.