City Council adopted its2014 water conservation plan and approved the first reading to amend the citys water utility services ordinance at its April 8 meeting.

The plan outlines irrigation and landscape requirements, including limits to the amount of area in a lawn that can be landscaped and irrigated as well as allowable plants and turf grasses, for new construction and installation of new irrigation systems.

The plan is our statement of strategy. It is our goals and how we intend to achieve them, Mike Babin, deputy general manager of utilities, said.

The code limits the irrigation area to 2 1/2 times the structures foundation or a maximum of 10,000 square feet to reduce the amount of turf to be irrigated, which is the primary cause of increased or excessive irrigation, Babin said.

Georgetown Utility Manager Jim Briggs said the citys goal is to lower the per capita water usage from 218 gallons to 160 gallons per person per day.

Briggs said that if the city were to continue to develop at its current usage and standards, the citys build out would be limited by its available water supply.

At this point we are only 20 percent built out in our [service territory]. We have 80 percent thats left [to develop], Briggs told City Council at its March 25 meeting. If we convert over to changes in landscape [requirements] with the 80 percent, we will be able to meet our goal. We will probably have the most reasonable water rates in the state with the resources we have nowif we get on it, start managing it right now and change the way weve been building. Thats not even touching the 20 percent.

Babin said that changes to the plan could be made over the next year, including adding provisions for new commercial and multifamily construction projects as well as adding additional retrofit and rebate programs for existing development.

Two citizens who spoke at the April 8 meeting supported the plan and the changes to the ordinance.

I wholeheartedly support staff and what they are doing with this water issue, Georgetown resident Gary Newman said. A lot of our problem is homeowners andour perceptions of lawns.

City Councilman Jerry Hammerlun asked city staff to regularlyupdate councilon the citys water usage as well as provide a timeline for when additional plan elements will be brought to City Council.

I would like to see some regular updates on our performance so that we have some sense of whether we are making any progress or not, and that we not wait until the next time we have a major issue to find out we are still at 218 gallons per capita per day,Hammerlun said.

The second reading of the ordinance is expected to be on the agenda for City Councils April 22 meeting.

I would say ultimately for this water plan to succeed we are going to have to get people to change the way they think about water and the way they use water, Councilman Keith Brainard said.