Water securityAs drought returns, experts say Texas cities aren't conserving enough water
Three years after one of the worst droughts in Wichita Falls history, life is returning to normal. But as Texas creeps back into a drought, water experts say residents in the city and around the state can do more to conserve water and prepare for the next shortage, which is always on the horizon.
Three years after one of the worst droughts in Wichita Falls history, life is returning to normal. But as Texas creeps back into a drought, water experts say residents in the city and around the state can do more to conserve water and prepare for the next shortage, which is always on the horizon.
In the early months of 2015, driving around Wichita Falls, filled with dust and wilting plants, was a depressing experience for resident Larry Ayres. The nights were even worse; he was sleepless with worry about what the city running out of water could mean for his family and his local chain of car washes.
Wichita Falls’ corner of North Texas was enduring one of the worst droughts in its history at the time, leaving the reservoirs that supply water to the city barely above 20 percent full. If the combined levels of the reservoirs, lakes Arrowhead, Kemp and Kickapoo, had dipped below that mark, the city would have been forced to shut off all public water.
“It was unthinkable,” said Ayres, owner of four All American Car Washes in Wichita Falls. “I don’t think anyone even tried to predict what would happen if the lakes reached that point, but there’s no telling what could have happened if we had run out.”
To stave off a city-wide water shutoff, Wichita Falls residents were doing everything they could to conserve water. Mandatory restrictions limited nearly all types of public water use, changing daily life for residents.
Now, as almost 50 percent of Texas deals with a drought that’s still threatening to spread, water experts are recommending cities implement more comprehensive, permanent water restrictions — like the ones Wichita Falls used three years ago — to avoid the pains that emergency drought restrictions can bring. A new study by the Texas Living Waters Project, a coalition of several environmental groups, recommends Texas cities limit outdoor watering for residences and businesses to no more than twice per week.
