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The Heat Is On. So Turn The Water Off!

Nick Perla
/
flickr.com

A number of North Texas cities are tightening water restrictions over the next few days as the heat settles in and lake levels drop.

This Saturday, cities in eastern Dallas and Collin counties served by the North Texas Municipal Water District will go to Stage 3 restrictions. One big problem: Zebra mussels have knocked 28 percent of the district’s water supply offline.

That means once-a-week lawn watering in Garland, Plano, McKinney and other towns.  

Fort Worth goes to Stage 1 water restrictions next Monday.  The water department’s Mary Gugliuzza says that limits landscape watering to twice a week.

“I just want to stress that we’re not telling people to water twice a week, we’re telling them there are two days out of the week they can water," she says. "The landscape may not need to be watered twice a week.”

She says there’s a simple test to see if your lawn needs water: Walk across it.

“Does the grass spring back, or are you able to see all of your footsteps across the grass? If your grass doesn’t spring back, that’s when it needs water,” Gugliuzza says. Otherwise, it has enough moisture.     

She says outdoor watering accounts for about half of water use during the summer – when demand increases and lake levels fall because of lack of rain.

The city of Dallas went to permanent twice- a-week watering last year.

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.