The overview
At an Aug. 20 meeting, Fulshear City Council approved a new drought contingency plan as city staff look to find more ways to enforce water restrictions during times of drought.
The city’s last revision of its drought contingency plan was approved in 2019.
The details
The new plan included changes such as:
- Stage 2: allows outdoor watering once per week and prohibits permitting of private pools
- Stage 3: prohibits installing new landscaping, outdoor watering and operating interactive water features; and also allows the city manager to require water usage reduction of commercial customers
- Removal of Stage 4
Following a dry summer in 2023, city staff worked with consultant Freese and Nichols, an infrastructure consulting and engineering firm, and the council to establish more guidelines for the revised plan.
The initial revision was presented to the council April 16 with further considerations at May 14 and July 16 meetings, according to agenda documents.
What they’re saying
With the Fulshear area seeing extensive drought from May to September 2023, city officials saw a need to act before the next drought to ensure residents were protected, council member Jason Knape said during the Aug. 20 meeting.
“After what we experienced last summer, we need to have some teeth in a drought contingency plan, and I’m happy to see what we have come up [with],” he said. “Not only [seeing] what other cities have done but kind of spearheading the initiative for the city of Fulshear.”
