HOUSTON – The city of Houston has announced that it has entered Stage One of its drought contingency plan as of Tuesday.
The plan calls for water conservation measures when there is an observed drop in annual rainfall amounts and higher-than-normal daily temperatures.
As record temperatures continue to heat up and stay consistent, city leaders recognize the impact the weather has on Houston. According to the release, the city’s service area is experiencing moderate to severe drought conditions.
“June will go down as one of the hottest months for us in a very, very long time, so we thought it would be prudent to at least go to phase one, voluntary conservation,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner.
Here are the following efforts being called for during Stage One drought response:
- Limit outdoor watering to twice a week between the hours of 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. with the following schedule:
- Sundays and Thursdays for single-family residential customers with even-numbered street addresses
- Saturdays and Wednesdays for single-family residential customers with odd-numbered street addresses
- Tuesdays and Fridays for all other customers
Water customers are also reminded to continue everyday efforts to prevent the loss of water:
- Check and repair water leaks, including dripping faucets and running toilets
- Check sprinkler heads to make sure water is not spraying into the street or directly into a storm drain and/or gutters
These voluntary efforts will help Houston reduce water use by 5%, according to the release. The public will be notified when Stage One water conservation measures have been lifted.
Mayor Turner said there are no penalties for people that choose not to voluntarily conserve water at this time though he would hope they will to avoid the city having to enact Stage Two.
“If the water capacity, for example, drops by 20%, and if the rainfall is still significantly lower, then we would like then that will trigger Stage Two,” Turner said. “And stage 2 would no longer be voluntary, it would be mandatory.”