More Kerrville Water Restrictions

KERRVILLE, Texas -- Kerrville will have 5.4 million gallons less of water for its daily water supply after the state significantly reduced the amount of water the Hill Country community can draw from the Guadalupe River.

The Texas Commission On Environmental Quality on Friday informed city officials that the surface water diversion that the city relies on as part of its water supply from 6.4 million gallons of water to 1 million per day.

TCEQ officials said the action was necessary because the river is down 85 to 90 percent due to the drought.

Kerrville has rights to use water from the Guadalupe River but state law allows TCEQ officials to curtail those rights at anytime due to the drought.

The TCEQ started curtailing Kerrville's water usage more than a year ago. That's forced the city to rely more heavily on its native ground water wells and aquifer storage and recovery wells.

The reduction in river water coupled with a decline in the amount of water city wells are producing means that the city, which is already in Stage 2 water restrictions, will face Stage 3 this week.

"We're getting pinched from all angles and what that eventually means for the city of Kerrville is that sometime later this week, probably Thursday, we're going to go into Stage 3 of our water conservation plan," Charlie Hastings, director of Public Works, said. "It's imminent. It will happen."

TCEQ requires water suppliers to develop drought contingency plans to manage water usage, reduce peak demand, and extend supplies. Local water suppliers issue notices about water restrictions when the situtation warrants action.

Hastings said that residents can save water by washing only full loads of dishes or laundry, cut back on washing vehicles, replace old plumbing with water saving fixtures and plant native plants that require less water.