Tuesday, October 31, 2000
Rising lake levels prompt new
look at water restrictions
By Samuel Segrist
Reporter-News Staff Writer
With Lake Fort Phantom Hill’s level
at a three-year high, Mayor Grady Barr said he will announce changes
today to Abilene’s water restrictions.
Barr on Monday would not discuss details
of the changes he is considering to the restrictions that water
customers have lived with since August 1999. He said City Hall
was still organizing information for today’s announcement.
Abilene water utility customers have been
restricted to sprinkling their lawns once every two weeks since
March because of a three-year drought that has drained Big Country
water supplies.
Barr said 7 inches of rainfall this month
and Phantom’s rising water level prompted the changes. The
lake, thanks to the city’s scalping operation on the Clear
Fork of the Brazos River, has risen to 10.4 feet below the top
of the Phantom spillway, said Dwayne Hargesheimer, water utilities
director.
The city’s drought contingency plan
takes effect when the city is 11 feet below the spillway.
The lake reached a low point of 18.1 feet
below the spillway last winter, Hargesheimer said. The recent
rains brought 15,000 acre-feet of water to Phantom, raising the
lake’s level 7 feet. Each acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons
of water.
Water consumption has also fallen with the
arrival of fall. The city’s water usage has remained below
20 million gallons a day since rains hit the area. Water department
officials have asked people to stop watering their lawns because
grass is most likely dormant. Last week, the water department
reported Phantom has enough water to last through next summer,
though restrictions may be necessary.
City Manager Roy McDaniel said today’s
presentation will focus on the status of the city’s water
supply and include information on a coordinated pumping plan between
Phantom and the Hubbard Creek Reservoir, the city’s secondary
source of water.
Earlier in the year, City Hall included
a new coordinated pumping plan for Hubbard and Phantom as a way
of maximizing the city’s total water supply.
Contact city government writer
Samuel Segrist at 676-6744 or segrists@abinews.com.
Check out our Web site at www.reporternews.com
Send a Letter to the Editor about This
Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address)
of This Story to A Friend:
Copyright ©2000,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
|
