Cities in the North Texas Municipal Water District are to be reminded that Stage 3 landscape watering restrictions are in place through Oct. 31.
Under Stage 3 restrictions, lawns can be watered with sprinklers or irrigation systems only once every two weeks.
“Every gallon we save now will help extend our water supply during the hot, dry summer months and until the drought has ended,” said Thomas Kula, executive director of the NTMWD. “NTMWD consumers with automatic sprinkler systems should operate their systems manually to ensure the lawn is watered only when needed and within their cities’ guidelines,” Kula added.
The NTMWD sources water from five reservoirs — Lavon Lake, Jim Chapman Lake, Lake Texoma, Lake Tawakoni and Lake Bonham.
Recent rain events had no significant impact to the reservoir level at Lavon Lake, the NTMWD said in a news release. Lavon Lake received less than a foot of rain inflow and, as of June 1, remains 11.36 feet below the normal conservation level. Lake Jim Chapman received inflows but remains 7.26 feet below the normal conservation level. Lake Tawakoni is 8.17 feet below normal and Lake Texoma is 8.21 feet below normal.
During the summer months, reservoirs can drop as much as ten feet in elevation due to evaporation and usage.
The NTMWD serves the following member cities, all of which are expected to observe Stage 3 restrictions: Allen, Farmersville, Forney, Frisco, Garland, McKinney, Mesquite, Plano, Princeton, Richardson, Rockwall, Royse City and Wylie. Additionally, the NTMWD lists the following towns as customers: Bonham, Caddo Basin SUD, Cash SUD, College Mound WSC, Copeville SUD, Crandall (Kaufman Four-One), East Fork SUD, Fairview, Fate, Forney Lake WSC, Gastonia-Scurry SUD, Greater Texoma Utility Authority (GTUA), Josephine, Kaufman, Kaufman Four-One, Lavon W.S.C., Little Elm, Lucas, Melissa, Milligan WSC, Mount Zion WSC, Murphy, Nevada WSC, North Collin WSC, Parker, Prosper, Rose, Hill SUD, Rowlett, Sachse, Seis Lagos UD, Sunnyvale, Terrell and Wylie Northeast SUD.
