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Dallas To Keep Drought Restrictions Despite Recent Rain

Robert Wallace (cc) flickr

The Dallas City Council gets a drought update today. KERA’s BJ Austin says part of that discussion is expected to be about selling water to those with slimmer resources.

Jody Puckett runs Dallas Water Utilities. She says recent rains have helped a lot … but not enough to lift the city’s Stage One drought restrictions of twice a week watering.

Puckett: Our supply has gone up to about 85% full: from 75 to 85 percent since November. But compared to this time last year we were at 91%. We’d be starting out behind if the summer started today. So, we’re still watching it like a hawk.

Puckett says she expects the City Council to extend the Stage One restrictions through June 8th.

But Dallas has enough water to sell about 70 million gallons a day to more drought-stricken neighbors, like the North Texas Municipal Water District. Its water supply from Lake Lavon and Lake Chapman is much lower than Dallas reservoir levels. Jody Puckett says that request to buy water could come in the spring. Irving has indicated it may also need to buy more water. And the City Council votes later this month on selling a million gallons a year for the next couple of years from the Lake Fork Reservoir to power plant operator Luminant.

Former KERA reporter BJ Austin spent more than 25 years in broadcast journalism, anchoring and reporting in Atlanta, New York, New Orleans and Dallas. Along the way, she covered Atlanta City Hall, the Georgia Legislature and the corruption trials of Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards.