City of Hutto moves into Stage 3 water restrictions

HUTTO, Texas - The City of Hutto has moved to Stage 3 water restrictions. 

This comes just two weeks after the move to Stage 2.

The city says the main difference between Stage 2 and Stage 3 is hose-end sprinklers can't be used and watering by hand can only be done on certain days.

Even number addresses can only water on Sundays and Thursdays. Odd number addresses can only water on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Watering can only be done before 6 a.m. and after 8 p.m.

Outdoor watering activities include using automated irrigation systems, watering by hand, filling up swimming pools, and washing cars.

"Right now, we are trying not to take care of the yard, like not watering the yard, and in my case, I have a swimming pool, and I'm not filling it up until we lift the restrictions," resident Rogelim DosSantos said. 

The city says they had to move to Stage 3 because of their contract with the Manville Water Supply Corporation. Manville recently had some water line breaks that caused them to go to Stage 3, so the city had to as well.

In a release, they say, "Hutto leaders recognize the need to become more water self-reliant, which is one of the primary goals of water system improvements over the next few years."

Other restrictions include restaurants not serving water unless a customer asks for it. Water can't be used to wash down sidewalks or for dust control.

Property owners can be cited for not fixing leaks after being told to.

The city wants residents to conserve water when showering, cleaning, and running appliances.

"As far as doing laundry and stuff, we try to combine all together to do just one load, instead of doing small loads, stuff like that," DosSantos said.

As far as the drought outlook, FOX 7 Austin meteorologist Carlo Falco says, "we're still looking at drier than average conditions expected for pretty much the rest of the month of August, dryer than average conditions expected for most of the month of September."

He says more water restrictions could happen in cities.

"[If] we don't get any more extra rain, there's no water for them to really pump from anywhere since all the aquifers are getting used up slowly by way of drinking water and irrigation, that kind of stuff," he said.

Plus, "as we stay dryer, the lake levels continue to fall, not to mention, as we stay dry and as we stay hot, the evaporation is going to continue to increase as we go through the rest of the summer."

"That's not easy to do because for example, right now I'm just going for a walk, when I come back normally you just want to go and turn the water on and hose down. It's not a big inconvenience, but it's not what we want in summer," DosSantos said.

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