By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members learned Tuesday the city will remain in Stage 2 water restrictions
for now, but further cutbacks in local water usage are looming as the summer approaches.
City Public Works Director Greg Velazquez spoke to council members about the four
different stages of water restrictions available to the city under its current drought
contingency plan.
Velazquez began with Stage 1, the least restrictive of the four stages, noting, “This stage
is voluntary, and we advise all citizens to participate in the five-day watering schedule
and limit unnecessary water usage.”
He said in Stage 2, which is currently in effect city-wide, “it is mandatory to follow the
five-day watering schedule.”
Under the five-day schedule, no watering is allowed on Saturdays and Sundays.
Velazquez said the five-day watering schedule is based on the final digit of a citizen’s
street address: Citizens whose addresses end in 0 and 9 may water on Mondays between
midnight and 10 a.m. and from 7 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.; citizens whose addresses end in 1
and 8 may water during those same times on Tuesdays; citizens whose addresses end in 2
and 7 may water during those times on Wednesdays; citizens whose addresses end in 3
and 6 may water during those times on Thursdays; and citizens whose addresses end in 4
and 5 may water during those times on Fridays.
Velazquez said in Stage 2 citizens whose properties have irrigation systems or who use
sprinklers may water once a week on their designated days, but drip irrigation systems
may be used without time restrictions.
He said hand-held hoses may be used in Stage 2 without restrictions if those hoses are
equipped with an automatic shut-off device like a “pistol grip” attachment.
Velazquez said violations can be reported by called 830-774-9623 or emailing
avillarreal@cityofdelrio.com
“The department will determine if the complaint is in violation and will send code
enforcement officers to deliver a warning. Further violations will result in a citation. It is
crucial to abide by these restrictions to protect our water source and conserve water for
tomorrow and for Del Rio,” Velazquez said.
Velazquez then addressed Stage 3 water restrictions.
He said, “If the springs falls below a flow of 15 MGD (million gallons a day), that will
trigger some different restrictions.”
Those restrictions include washing vehicles “to only be done for public health and safety
reasons and only between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.”
Under Stage 3 restrictions, the filling of pools, Jacuzzis or wading pools is prohibited.
Also prohibited under Stage 3 restrictions is the use of water for construction purposes.
Velazquez said, “Currently under Stage 2, for any construction, that they have to get
water from our fire hydrants that are metered, they come and get a waiver from the public
works director. In Stage 3, that is discontinued.”
Mayor Al Arreola asked how the city is dealing with violations.
Arreola asked. “How do you all enforce that out there? Let’s say I complain about
Councilman (Mayor Pro-tem Jim) DeReus, if he’s watering his grass every day, how do
you all go and enforce that? How does this work?”
Velazquez said there is a number citizens can use to phone in a complaint, which will go
to Art Villarreal, the city’s water treatment plant supervisor. Villarreal will forward the
complaint to the code enforcement department, overseen by John Atnipp.
“If they find that that specific address is in violation, they will, of course, educate the
person, and make sure they follow the watering days, and if not, a citation will be
(issued),” Velazquez replied.
Velazquez also noted that under Stage 3 restrictions, sprinkler and permanent irrigation
are prohibited at all times, and watering with a hose equipped with a pistol grip will
follow the five-day watering schedule.
Velazquez also addressed the issue of car washing in Stage 3.
He told the council, “If I want to do a car wash at my house, it’s prohibited, but I can go
to a commercial car wash and use it, from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.”
Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus said, “So Greg, let me ask you, because this is a question I
get all the time. Why are car washes still allowed to operate?”
Velazquez replied, “Some car washes use a re-use (water) system.”
“But not all of them,” DeReus said.
“Not all of them,” Velazquez agreed.
“But there’s no designation, if you filter and re-use (water), you’re allowed to continue,
right? Because that’s why one of the (city’s) splash pads is allowed to be used and the
other one isn’t, because the second one has the re-use (system),” DeReus said.
“That’s correct,” Velazquez responded.
DeReus asked Velazquez to elaborate further.
“Work with me on this, because I don’t know how to justify that,” DeReus said, pointing
at the photos of the car washes Velazquez displayed as part of his presentation.
“Well, this is only from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., right? That’s something that we have to look
into and do some research with KSA, the (company) that did the (drought) contingency
plan,” Velazquez said.
DeReus also asked if the local commercial car washes have been notified “that if we go
to Stage 3, they’re going to be restricted to four hours a day.”
“No, they haven’t been notified,” Velazquez replied.
“They need to be,” DeReus said, and Velazquez agreed.
“There needs to be no question about it,” DeReus added.
“That’s correct. I agree,” Velazquez said.
Velazquez then spoke about Stage 4 restrictions, which he called “much stricter” than the
other stages.
In this stage, Velazquez said, the city “will assess the severity of the problem and identify
the actions needed and time required to solve the problem.”
In Stage 4, the city will also “issue notification to the public . . . of the need to boil water,
use bottled water or use a designated alternate water supply, as appropriate.”
“If we can’t keep up with the demand (for water), and if we have issues with the demand,
then of course there are certain triggers as to, for instance, you can’t maintain the system pressure during demands or certain times during the day, and you have to issue a boil
water notice,” Velazquez said.
Velazquez told the council in his tenure with the city these actions have only been taken
once previously, around 2016, when a pump failed unexpectedly.
Velazquez also delivered a sliver of good news.
“The good news is that with this rain that we’ve had, we are at 20 MGD (million gallons
a day) currently flowing from the springs, which is good. We know we have future hot
days before us, so let’s keep our fingers crossed. Hopefully we don’t hit that 15 MGD. . .We also need more rain,” he said.
After the presentation, Velazquez called for questions, and Councilman J.P. Sanchez
asked what is the highest million-gallon-a-day flow the springs have had.
Velazquez replied, “What is it? 40 to 50 million?”
He looked at Villarreal, seated in the audience, for confirmation, and Villarreal said, “60
million gallons a day.”
Velazquez added, “When I started working for the city in 1998, we were at 90 million
gallons a day. Then we went down to 60 million, and then we started seeing it go down to
35 million, and the lowest that we’ve seen it was about two years ago, in the 20 to 25
(million gallon a day) range.”
He added the flow from the springs decreased to about 18 million gallons a day about two
weeks ago.
Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez asked if Velazquez could update the public weekly
about the spring flow level on the city’s web site, and he said that could be done.
City Manager Shawna Burkhart asked Velazquez to inform the council about work being
done to allow local contractors and builders access to non-potable water.
Velazquez said, “So there’s been a concern about developers and contractors and even us
in the city of Del Rio, for our streets, for dust control or for compaction or for any type of
soil work that’s done in development. . . One of the ideas brought up by our water
production team was to use our Agarita Well as a non-potable (water source) with a
standpipe, and we have currently a power source there and a pump there that can do 100
gallons per minute.
“So, water trucks are about 1,200 gallons per truck, so we could fill four trucks in an
hour. We’re going to try and set up a standpipe along Agarita Drive, and they could just
drive by there and fill up those trucks,” he added.
Arreola asked if that water could be used for city parks, and Velazquez said it could.
Gutierrez asked if the non-potable water would be used only by local contractors or if the
city would use it as well, and Velazquez replied the city also would use that water.
The council took no action following Velazquez’s presentation.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
