Lake Levels: Drought Emergency

Wichita Falls Combined Lake Level:  39.30%  as of April 29, 2013

WICHITA FALLS DROUGHT STAGE 3 RESTRICTIONS:

Stage 3: Drought Emergency Triggers
A Drought Emergency shall be declared when:
1) The combined storage level of Lakes Kickapoo and Arrowhead drops to 40% of the total conservation pool storage capacity, or
2) Demand exceeds design capacity for 4 weeks (or exceeds design capacity by 115%, or 3) the water supply system is unable to deliver water due to mechanical failure or damage of major water system components which will require more than 24 hours to repair, if a Drought Warning is in progress.

Reduction Goals
When a Drought Emergency is declared, action will be taken to reduce the current net withdrawal from reservoirs by an additional 20% or more (with the 15% reduction from Stage 2, that will make a Total of 35% reduction.)

Irrigation: Spray, Sprinkler, Drip, Bubbler, Soaker
It shall be unlawful to utilize spray irrigation in any but the following hours on your designated day
12 midnight to 5 a.m. for Automatic Sprinkler System
8p.m. to 12 midnight for Hose-End Sprinkler Systems

Car Dealers
It shall be unlawful for a car dealer to wash its inventory of cars on any day other than the day the property is authorized to spray irrigate in accordance with the Water Rationing Zone Map in effect.

Car Washes:
All self-serve and full-service carwashes within the corporate City Limits will be required to close the car washing portion of their business on one day each week. The scheduled day of closure shall coincide with the day that car wash is allowed to spray irrigate, in accordance with the Water Rationing Zone map.

It shall be unlawful for a car wash to use a nozzle that discharges more than 3.0 gallons per minute.
It shall be unlawful for a car wash to wash any of its bays with water, except on Sundays.

Public and Private Golf Courses
A) Greens:
Golf courses may utilize Spray Irrigation on greens at any time for the purposes of cooling golf course putting surfaces when warranted by weather conditions and only with run cycles of less than five minutes.
Golf course greens are exempt from the Spray Irrigation days established in (d)(1)(b), and greens may be Spray Irrigated any day of the week.
B) Tee-Boxes
It shall be unlawful for golf courses to Spray Irrigate Tee-Boxes, except on the day of the week permitted for the area as identified on the Water Rationing Zone map.
Golf courses are exempt from the spray irrigation time limitations of Stage 3. Golf courses will continue to be subject to the prohibition of spray irrigation during the daylight hours between 11a.m. & 6 p.m.
C) Fairways
It shall be unlawful for golf courses to Spray Irrigate fairways.

The City will enforce the new restrictions 24 hours a day seven days a week utilizing several departments and divisions. The fine for a first offense is $25.00, second offense up to $500.00 and a third offense up to $1000.00. Citizens can assist with adherence to the new restrictions by contacting the Water Restrictions Hotline at 761-7477 if they witness watering taking place that is restricted by City ordinance. Callers DO NOT have to identify themselves. Simply provide an address and city crews can investigate the location. The hotline number is answered Monday through Friday from 8:am to 5:pm. The after-hours and weekend number for reporting violations is 720-5000.