PUBLIC NOTICE – STAGE 3 DROUGHT CONDITIONS

Belterra Residents –

You may have received a recent notification from the WTCPUA regarding the LCRA’s adoption of an amendment to its drought contingency plan last week. This amendment requires that water customers like the WCIDs adopt water use restrictions limiting irrigation of ornamental landscaped areas to once per week at any time when the combined storage of Lakes Buchanan and Travis is below 900,000 acre-feet. The restrictions must remain in effect until the combined storage increases to at least 1.1 million acre-feet. The combined storage of Lakes Buchanan and Travis is currently below 900,000 acre-feet, and the LCRA amendment will affect outdoor watering schedules in Belterra.

As an interim measure, the 2023 once per week watering schedule will be implemented on March 1, 2024. The WCIDs will not be issuing warnings, and all violations will be subject to a fine. Please keep in mind that the WCIDs are subject to penalties issued by the LCRA for failure to comply, so one customer’s violation could result in a much more substantial penalty being imposed upon the WCIDs (and consequently, all customers). We are, therefore, required to take enforcement of drought restrictions seriously.

The WCIDs are currently updating their drought contingency plans to reflect this change and other proposed changes since last summer. We will provide further information once the revised drought contingency plan and updated watering schedules have been finalized. The current once per week watering schedules for each WCID can be found at the following links:

WCID1: https://www.hayswcid.org/hwcid-1/watering-restrictions

WCID2: https://www.hayswcid.org/hwcid-2/watering-restrictions

A copy of the LCRA amendment can be found here: https://www.lcra.org/download/appendixf-lcrafirmcustomer-dcp-feb2019-pdf/?wpdmdl=12750.