Drought contingency and water management plans to get updates

At the rate Georgetown residents are using water, the city will have to look for additional water sources to accommodate future growth and current needs, city utilities officials say.

Georgetown Utility Systems is working to present City Council with a plan to keep that from happening by changing its water rates, encouraging water conservation and changing landscaping standards for future developments.

"I don't want to go out and buy more [access to] water if I don't have to," GUS Utility Director Glenn Dishong said. "The next increment of water [to be purchased] is likely to be very, very expensive. [The water sources] take a long time to develop, and since we probably wouldn't be using any new water for 20 years, we're all going to pay for it from now until we start using it."

If water usage decreases, the city will have enough water for all its residents and any projected future growth, he said.

"The absolute No. 1 issue for the entire Texas area is water," Councilman Jerry Hammerlun said. "I think we need to get significantly more proactive to monitor and conserve our resources."

While all the pieces to the puzzle—development and landscaping codes—need to fall in place, Hammerlun said he is supportive of a water usage rate system that encourages conservation.

Hammerlun said residents may have to realize lawns may not be as green as they used to be.

Less water should be used in landscaping, and using more native grasses and plants should be a part of the solution, he said.

Landscaping as a solution

The biggest piece to this puzzle, Dishong said, is landscaping and irrigation.

"That's the whole reason we're out of whack," he said.

The revised plan would incorporate a new landscaping standard for upcoming development as well as incentives and education to help people change current water-thirsty landscapes.

"The problem with landscapes is we're putting out too much turf grass on top of rocks," Dishong said. "We need to have a landscape standard that will much more conform to the natural landscape because the natural landscape is one that doesn't really need to be watered."

Native plants, trees and grasses, as well as soaker hoses and drip irrigation help to decrease water use, he said.

GUS Conservation Services Manager Kathy Ragsdale said she is looking at how other cities, such as San Antonio and El Paso, have reduced water usage.

"They've made huge changes just through incentives, not restrictions," she said.

Councilwoman Rachel Jonrowe is in favor of the city's efforts to conserve water.

"I think it's a necessary step of achieving our goal of reducing water usage," she said. "I was a little surprised at just how high our water usage is."

As she and her husband are finishing renovations to their home, Jonrowe said, they are also looking at their landscaping and considering a drip irrigation system and native grasses.

"I want to make sure I'm being a positive role model," she said.

The city's per capita usage—the amount of water used per person per day—is 241 gallons a day per person, Ragsdale said.

That amount is up by 41 gallons since 2009 when city officials said per capita usage was 200 gallons.

The state recommends an average usage of 140 gallons a day per person, but the city's aim by 2030 is to get water usage down to an average of 160 gallons a day per person, she said.

The purpose of a statewide water plan is to get people to implement water strategies instead of waiting for conditions to get bad, said Robert Mace, Texas Water Development Board deputy executive administrator of water sciences and conservation.

The 2011 drought helped people to see that there is a water problem, he said.

"We're also growing very rapidly, and a lot of the easy water is gone," Mace said. "New water is going to be very expensive."

Conservation uses natural resources more efficiently and is more cost-effective, he said.

Proposed plan

"We haven't been real effective in our conservation efforts, and we've got to get much more serious in our conservation efforts to try to get [our per capita water use] down," Georgetown Utilities General Manager Jim Briggs said. "We've got to become a lot more aggressive."

The proposed changes would affect the city's water ordinance, the drought contingency plan and the conservation plan and make them interdependent.

While details are still being worked out, Briggs said after taking the plan to the GUS advisory board, city staff hope to be able to present it to City Council by the end of February or in March.

If approved by the council, the proposed plan would make the city's current three-day-a-week irrigation schedule typically enacted during the summer or during the first stage of a drought the year-round standard.

The plan simplifies the tiered rate system from five categories to three, and it lowers water rates for customers in the lowest category of usage but increases rates in additional tiers.

This system rewards people who make adjustments in water use with lower water bills, Briggs said.

"You're going to have to let the grass stress. You're going to have to let the grass go dormant," he said.

"It's going to take a community effort to do it," Briggs said, about lowering the city's water usage.

An average household in the city—about 2.5 people—uses about 5,000 gallons a month for indoor needs, Ragsdale said.

That amount would vary depending on how many people live in the household, but the first tier is meant to accommodate residents' indoor water needs, she said.

The second tier incorporates indoor use and irrigation, Ragsdale said, and the third tier targets excessive irrigation use.

Lowering the cost of water in the first tier is the right approach, Jonrowe said.

"Those people that make sure they take measures to keep usage low actually see their water bill decrease a little bit," she said.