Houston expects mandatory water restrictions next week

[MrDiaz]

Source: Chron.com

Mayor Annise Parker this morning said that the city is moving toward enacting mandatory water restrictions and a simultaneous draw-down of water from Lake Conroe, as soon as next week, in response to the ongoing drought.

In June, the city implemented what it calls Stage 1 water conservation. Those include voluntary restrictions on water usage, including a request that residents limit the watering of lawns to twice a week and to do that watering at night or in the early-morning hours.

Under Stage 2, those restrictions would become mandatory. Other restrictions, such as a prohibition on washing cars, would be added, Parker said. Residents also would be required to repair water leaks on their properties within 72 hours.

The mandatory restrictions would be enforced through fines, though Parker did not elaborate.

"We are coming closer and closer to drawing down water from Lake Conroe to stabilize the water levels in Lake Houston," the mayor said. "And we are coming closer and closer to a stage 2 water conservation, which is mandatory."



Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/7691563.h...

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/7691563.h...

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I reallize that many of you are very stereotypical towards Texans, but some of us aren't like Gov. Goodhair. And shit is getting bad down here.

[FSogol]

1. Better late than never, I guess. n/t

[kestrel91316]

2. I expect the teabaggers in particular to be irate about this. Yep. Privatize

public water supplies for profit. THAT will solve everything.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. I hope the fools stay off Lake Conroe when it gets really low

There's all kinds of junk under the water in that lake. It can get really dangerous if you don't know your way around, and even if you do in some cases.

It's so weird for Houston to be this dry. Usually when all the rest of us are suffering from a drought, Houston is still getting at least some rain. Houston has that whole "coastal effect" thing going for it normally. Not this year, they're suffering fires and drought just like the rest of the state. It's unprecedented. When I lived there one of my biggest problems was trying to keep the crawdads from turning my yard into a mass of "mudbug condos."

I read where Houston had some 500-600 waterline breaks/leaks due to the drought causing the ground to shrink. I cannot imagine that's helping out the available water situation any. The city of Austin had 100 breaks last week alone. That's more than twice what they'd usually have this time of year in a one week span, and that doesn't account for private waterline breaks. There's no estimate for how many of those are taking place.

If this drought doesn't break this fall, and they're saying it may well not, then I'm not sure what many of us will be doing for drinking water this time next year. Not to mention where we're supposed to find water to put out all the fires that keep popping up.

[Gothmog]

4. The weather has been brutal here in Houston

This shortage is getting bad

[Honeycombe8]

7. I'm in Dallas and considering moving to Houston, where it's COOLER.

At least in Houston there's not an accompanying drought, like here. And it hasn't hit 110 degrees there, yet, has it? If not, tell mama I'm comin' home to Houston!!!!!! It's HOT here in Dallas.

(the water from the outside hose is so hot, it seems as if it's been simmering on the stove. No exaggeration. I add ice to the water in my coffee percolator so that it percs long enough.)

Every summer we have regular watering rules. So far, the same rules apply. No further restrictions. Don't know why.

[MrDiaz]

8. Yea

I believe taht it 110 last week a couple of times, but I know that Dallas has had like 30 straight days of 100+ heat. It is just brutal down here.

[Gothmog]

9. It is only 101 degrees today

Houston may get under a 100 tomorrow for its high temp

[gkhouston]

10. Supposed to be 101 today with a heat index of 105 to 110.

Last I heard, we're 16 inches under for the year. There most definitely is a drought here. We usually just let the grass get a little brown in the summer if we hit a dry spell, but we've started watering a little to spare the house foundation and the trees. I've started saving water from when we run the water to let it warm up for dishes or showers so I can put the excess around the trees.

[Honeycombe8]

11. Not good. But it sounds good to me, at this point. We're hoping for a "cool" front, down to 103 ..

down to 103 on Friday. But I checked, and it looks like it's going to cool down only to 105, not 103 like was projected a few days ago.

This is awful. Everyone here walks around not in as good a mood as normally. We've been triple digits every day for weeks, with not one drop of rain and nary a cloud in the sky. The sun here is glaring, as well, since we're higher in altitude than Gulf Coast (where I'm from).

People make a big deal out of humidity (well, it's hot here, but not as humid as the coast!). Bull. 110 degrees is 110 degrees. Period. (I get a kick out of people saying how humid it is here in Dallas, though. LOTS of people have said that to me over the years. It isn't humid to me, since I'm from the Gulf Coast. It's normal to dry here, IMO.)

[gkhouston]

12. I can remember other hot summers, but without the rain, it's pretty intolerable.

I'd rather deal with the "steam bath" effect after a summer rain than have none at all.

[Honeycombe8]

14. Me, too. The humidity keeps the heat down, too. Plus it's good for the skin.

I hope I'm able to move back down nearer to the coast one day. My family is down there, and I miss having green grass in the summer. I haven't missed not having hurricane disasters, though. We have tornado risk here, but not too bad. We're pretty safe, disaster wise. And the economy here is diverse and fairly good, compared to other places. And it's a very clean city, with streets and highways well planned out. Easy to get around. But the weather and the landscape. It's awful.

Of course, I do find it kinda fun to have the winters here. They're mild, but it usually snows at least once a year (a deepish snow, where you can build a snowman). This past winter we actually had several deep snows. One was several feet deep. I'd never experienced that and didn't know how to react to that. It was beautiful, on the one hand. But scary on the other...power was out all over the city for days. Few people were able to get out and drive (I'm chicken and usu. the last one who attempts to drive in it, altho I have 4 wheel drive). It's nice having a real winter, though, if only for a short while.

[Yavapai]

5. I can just hear Rick Perry's wife Anita

next year, saying "let them drink Perrier"...

[bongbong]

6. Best solution for the drought

This is the suggested solution for teabaggers:

Settle back in your air-conditioned Escalade, idling in a parking lot, and listen to OxyRush tell you how man-made climate change is fictional.

[BackToThe60s]

13. Cyclical, purely cyclical