By EMILY GOLDSTEIN / The Dallas Morning News
Rain may have drowned out a few Independence Day celebrations, but it wasn’t enough to lift the restrictions for cities in the North Texas Municipal Water District.
“Yesterday and today we’ve had a little rain,” said Steve Hill, a spokesman for the city of McKinney. “That’s not been enough to ease the drought conditions, and it’s not going to change the restrictions.”
“A little bit of rain does not end the drought,” said Denise Hickey, a spokeswoman for the water district. “It takes several days of heavy rainfall typically before you see any result in lake level at Lavon.”
On Wednesday morning, Lake Lavon measured 480.9 feet, 11.1 feet below normal levels, Ms. Hickey said.
The North Texas Municipal Water District, which supplies water to 60 cities and water-supply corporations, moved June 1 to the third stage of its severe drought plan. Residents in most member cities may water their lawns no more than once a week and under certain limitations. Each city implements and enforces its own rules.
Some residents said they were grateful for the rain, even if they got no break by having it fall on their designated watering day.
“We welcome any kind of rain we can get,” said Gary Hartwell, Frisco’s director of public works, who lives in the Wednesday watering zone.
Frisco’s ordinance prohibits watering while it’s raining, he said, so the morning’s storms prevented many homeowners from using their sprinkler systems.
Mr. Hartwell said he planned to see if the rain continued before deciding whether to water his own lawn Wednesday evening. But he insisted that the once-a-week watering has been enough.
“My trees are green, my shrubs are green, my flowers are blooming,” he said.
Jackie Heintschel, another Frisco resident who is allowed to water on Wednesdays, said she’d “rather have the rain than be worried whether it’s my watering day or not.”
“Whether it gets watered by rain or by the sprinklers, we’re getting water either way,” she said.
Ms. Heintschel said she planned to shut off her sprinkler system this week.
“I turned them off because we got plenty of rain last night,” she said. “Why waste water?”
That kind of attitude contributes to water-conservation efforts, experts said.
“What you might see happen is due to the cooler weather or the recent rains, citizens in the area will not water their lawns,” Ms. Hickey said.
According to Mr. Hartwell, Frisco residents used 34 million gallons of water on Monday, but only 29 million gallons the next day. The city estimates it has saved 179 million gallons of water since restrictions began.
Frisco homeowners who violate the regulations may be notified that their sprinkler system has been turned off. Then they must call the city and pay a $25 reconnection fee. Repeated violations can lead to citations, Mr. Hartwell said.
“Any system of warnings or citations really isn’t saving water immediately,” he said. “The object is not to issue citations; it’s to save water.”
Jim Foster, Plano’s director of public works, said the weather will provide a brief relief in consumption, but then usage will return to normal levels when the rain stops.
“The rain will greatly diminish the amount of use that we have,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that.”
Plano has issued 1,325 citations to residents since Stage 3 water restrictions began in earnest on June 19, Mr. Foster said. Compared with the first week in June, the city has seen a 12 percent decline in water consumptions under the restrictions.
He said the city hopes to see a drop in both in water usage and citations as people get used to the restrictions.
McKinney has sent about 1,500 reminders to violators since June 1, but not issued any citations, Mr. Hill said. The residents were allowed to become accustomed to the restrictions until last Saturday, when the city initiated a citation policy to target repeat offenders who use “an extraordinary amount of water,” he said.
The city of Mesquite also began the citation process Saturday, although none have been issued, Deputy City Manager Carol Zolnerowich said.
Tuesday’s weather backfired in Midlothian, where workers on Wednesday were repairing a 48-inch section of pipe between Joe Pool Lake, the city’s main water source, and the city’s water treatment plant.
“We lost power to our water station at Joe Pool Lake due to an electrical storm,” Mayor Boyce Whatley said. The power outage caused the water to flow downward and put pressure on water pumps, leading to the pipe damage.
City officials intended to have the pipe fixed by Wednesday afternoon, but until then, they were asking residents to curtail nonessential water usage. Midlothian, which is not part of the North Texas Municipal Water District, is not normally under water restrictions.
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