Georgetown in Stage 2 of Drought Plan, restricts watering to one day per week

GEORGETOWN, Texas - The City of Georgetown has announced that is enacting Stage 2 of its Drought Contingency Plan effective June 28 due to sustained high water use nearing system treatment capacity.

Watering with an irrigation system or hose-end sprinkler will be restricted to one day per week. Watering with an irrigation system is not permitted from noon to 7 p.m. on any day. Watering with a hand-held hose or bucket can be done any day and at any time. Washing a vehicle is only permitted at a commercial car wash. 

Officials say that over the past two weeks, water production from the city’s water treatment plants has exceeded 90% of capacity on multiple days, triggering the need to move to Stage 2 of the Drought Plan. During the summer months, 75% of the water produced each day by water treatment plants is used for lawn and landscape irrigation. 

"Given the high water use we have seen in the past few weeks, enacting the one-day watering schedule ensures we have enough water to meet our primary goals to provide water for domestic use inside the home and for fire flow," Director of Water Utilities Chelsea Solomon said in a news release. 

"Once we have had multiple days of use exceeding 90 percent capacity of our water plants, restricting outdoor water use to once per week is how we ensure in the Drought Contingency Plan that we have water to meet the demands of essential indoor uses and fire suppression," Solomon added.

The one-day per week irrigation schedule is based on the last digit of the street address. 

The City of Georgetown is providing a one-week allowance for water customers to adjust their irrigation systems to comply with this schedule before issuing citations. After the one-week grace period, violations of the irrigation schedule may result in administrative charges on customer bills.  

Violations of the irrigation schedule may result in administrative charges on customer bills.

Find more information on rebates, programming your controller how-to videos, and information on our water system at water.georgetown.org. 

For questions about your utility bills, contact Customer Care at 512-930-3640 or customercare@georgetown.org.