Marble Falls nears Stage 1 water plan

MARBLE FALLS, Texas (KXAN) - In a city built around a lake with a flowing feature in its name, Marble Falls 7,200 citizens are almost at their water capacity. Jonathan Parmeter manages one of the only carwashes in town and noticed his water usage has definitely gone up.

“We’ve got two 500-gallon total capacity tanks in the back,” Parmeter said. “We use those up in a good day.”

As the city asked residents to voluntarily conserve water during the drought, customers who used to wash their cars themselves now come to Parmeter. That request also means people only water their lawns at certain time, alternating by day and address.

The city has five stages of restrictions from mild to emergency. Crews said Stage 1 should come this week, as demand hits 2.6 million gallons. Marble Falls would then join Austin, San Marcos, and a slew of other Texas communities with such water warnings.

The city’s water plant pumps three million gallons a day. Last summer, it reached stage three but quickly pulled the alert as people paid attention.

“The hope is that people conserve and back off enough on their water usage that we won’t have to implement a mandatory water conservation,” said Christina Laine, city spokesperson.

Beyond Stage 1, voluntary turns to mandatory. The city mandates necessary water usage only. There are guidelines for pools, and restaurants must refrain from automatically serving complimentary glasses of water.

Parmeter said carwashes are also on the list.

“It’s scary,” he added, “because, if it gets to a point where there’s not enough water, the first place they’re going to come shut down is right here.”

Under Stage 1, the city would stop flushing water mains. Residents would also be asked to voluntarily limit lawn watering between the hours of 7 p.m. and 10 a.m., alternating days depending on their address.

Under Stage 2, further time restrictions for lawn watering goes into place from 6 to 10 a.m. and 8 to 10 p.m. every other day. The city also restricts vehicle washing and golf course irrigation.

The city would also have some restrictions for most water fountains. In addition, it would reduce irrigation of public parks.