North Texas

Murphy Nearing Water “Cap”, Urging Conservation

At the Central Park splash pad, kids are focused on fun, not water conservation.

That's on the minds of Murphy officials, who in May, scaled back the pad's hours and flow.

"Before we can ask our residents to cut back and make sacrifices, we want to make sure that we're correct as a city,” said City Manager, Mike Castro.

Murphy is fast approaching its "so-called” cap outlined by the North Texas Municipal Water District.

The city’s highest water usage, set back in 2016, determines water rates.

As of June 18, Murphy was about 140-million gallons shy of the 1.4 billion gallon record.

Though it sounds like a lot, passing that cap by July 31 seems likely to happen.

"Just based on current usage, yes, but we're doing things to conserve,” said Public Services Director, Tim Rogers.

Rogers said they're keeping a close watch on city sprinklers and reached out to the largest 25 businesses in town asking them to follow a conservation plan. He's urging everyone to only water between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Nearby City Hall, sprinklers ran well into the lunch hour Friday outside the Tom Kimbrough Stadium. The parking lot of the high school stadium was covered in runoff water.

"Anybody driving down the street, they may see some irrigation going, but that's not necessarily potable water,” Rogers said.

Commenters on the city’s Facebook page asked whether Murphy was monitoring that kind of water usage. NBC 5 reached out to Plano ISD who owns the stadium. The school district was unable to confirm, as of Friday afternoon, whether its sprinklers use drinking water or another source, like a pond.

As for water bills - if numbers top 1.4-billion, rates could start going up with the new fiscal year in August. So far, the city is not in a drought and no restrictions are in place. At this point, going beyond the cap is most likely to affect your wallet.

"If you go above the consumption, it takes more to treat the water so it is a factor as far as cost goes,” Rogers said.

Cost that won't come at the expense of little ones who can still splash in the heat of the day. The pad is operating Tuesday - Sunday on limited hours, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

The water district supplies about 80 North Texas communities. It's already looking at a 28-cent per 1-thousand gallon increase in October to help pay for a new reservoir. Setting a new water record, would add to that cost for Murphy residents.

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