Specially Called Session Analyzes Recent Water Boil Cause
City staff presented a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) regarding the…
If City water usage exceeds 90% of the daily water supply limit for two days in a seven-day period (5.4M gallons), Stage 2 restrictions will be initiated to avoid a water crisis such as a boil notice.
COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES
- Landscape watering with manual hose sprinklers or irrigation systems at each service address is limited to TWICE PER WEEK ON YOUR DESIGNATED DAY.
- Foundations, trees and other plantings may be watered any day with soaker or handheld hoses.
- No watering (including by handheld hoses or soaker hoses) may occur between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
- Restrictions are mandatory and violations are subject to fines.
WHEN YOU CAN IRRIGATE:
Click on map for larger view.
LANDSCAPE ORDINANCE
The City adopted a landscape ordinance on 03/12/24 to help conserve water usage.
HOW TO SET UP YOUR ACCOUNT:
- Go to mywateradvisor2.com
- Click on the JOIN MY WATER ADVISOR
- Choose the following signup option:
– Enter your Account Number
– Enter your last Name as it appears on your bill
– Enter a valid Email Address and create a Password
IMPORTANT:
Check the date of the post to ensure you are getting the most recent information.
WHAT IS A WATER CRISIS?
If customer demand exceeds 6.0 million gallons per days, the system could experience a loss of pressure in the distribution system and require a Boil Water Notice.
WHAT IS A BOIL NOTICE?
A boil water notice is a public statement advising people to boil their tap water before consuming it, typically in response to an event that has (or could have) introduced contaminants into the water distribution system. Such events include a large water main break, widespread loss of system pressure, or results of routine sample testing in the system.
Although waterborne diseases are extremely rare, they can be serious. The risk is higher for infants, the elderly and people with immune deficiency disorders.
A boil notice can also result in the closure of businesses such as restaurants, grocery stores and schools due to a lack of safe water for consumption, cleaning and sanitation requirements.
CAN I WATER TREES, PLANTS, LANDSCAPING WITH A SOAKER HOSE OR HAND HELD DEVICE?
Yes, you can water trees, plants and landscaping with a soaker hose or handheld device on any day, but not between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
WHY CAN’T WE WATER WITH IRRIGATION SYSTEMS ON THE WEEKEND?
The weekend downtime provides an opportunity to refill the storage tanks and rebuild pressure.
WHY IS THE CITY ONLY RECENTLY CARING ABOUT OUR WATER SYSTEM?
The City has always cared about water. The topic of water infrastructure, storage capacity, delivery system and supply receives focus every year by City Council and staff.
For decades, Heath has had the most reliable and efficient system and source of water via the City of Rockwall, which is a customer City of the North Texas Water Municipal District. (That makes the City of Heath a customer of Rockwall.)
In 2022, we began to see signs of that reliability falling apart when the City of Rockwall capped the water available to the City of Heath when NTWMD’s plant in Wylie went offline and greatly impacted Rockwall’s availability to provide water to its customers, which also include RCH and Blackland.
In 2023, we again saw the dwindling reliability as the City of Rockwall informed the City of Heath that they cannot provide more water than our 6 million gallons a day maximum.
The problems in 2022 plus 2023 became a pattern, spurring the City of Heath to take quick action. First, the water restrictions were initiated to ensure the ability to continue to serve our citizens during this prolonged heat and drought. Secondly, by seeking redundancy and new sources of water.
The City of Heath is now working with a consultant to identify the necessary infrastructure, storage capacity and all available water sources to secure and protect our ability to serve our customers now and through projected build out.
This is not an easy task. It will take at least five years and considerable expense. And the City of Heath is not alone in competing for a finite resource. With population growth and hotter/drier summers, the water challenge will be a new norm throughout the State of Texas, the U.S. and internationally.
Even as we work to expand our capacity, citizens will have to change their water consumption behavior. Watering lawns with an irrigation system being the #1 drain on our system.
HOW MUCH WATER DOES HEATH REALLY USE DAILY?
Last summer (2022), without water restrictions, City of Heath customers were using over 7 million gallons a day. Lawn and landscaping irrigation is almost exclusively the driver of summer peak water demand, taking 2/3s of the available daily water supply.
In the fall/winter, daily consumption for the City of Heath hovers around 1.5 million gallons per day.
WHY CAN’T THE CITY JUST BUY MORE WATER?
As it has been communicated previously, the City’s daily allotment from the City of Rockwall is 6 million gallons. This is not about money; the City has the funds to buy more if it were possible. There simply is no additional water to purchase. Despite numerous requests to obtain additional water, our water supplier (City of Rockwall) does not have any additional water to provide.
This is a limit on the supplier’s ability to produce obtain water from the North Texas Water Municipal District (NTWMD); not a limit to the City’s ability to purchase or pump the water. Heath’s pumping capacity is nearly twice the amount we are allotted.
A firm has been retained to assist in a water study to help identify additional water sources as well as infrastructure needed to expand storage and delivery capacities. But this is a longer-term solution. Citizens are encouraged to conserve now, with the use of irrigation systems to water landscaping and lawns being the #1 driver of water demand in the summer.
HOW IS POPULATION/HOUSING GROWTH IMPACTING OUR WATER DEMAND?
Our provider at the top of the supply chain – North Texas Municipal Water District (NTWMD) — has a service population of more than 2 million. This is increasing by 55,000 per year. That number is expected to grow to 5.7 million in the next 50 years. In the past decade alone, North Texas has experienced a 32% increase in its population to 7.7 million residents.
With intentional care to manage growth through development guidelines specified in the 2018 Comprehensive Plan, the City of Heath has experienced a much lower growth rate. A 2018 Water Study Evaluation by Freeman and Millican projected Heath’s demand to increase by 4.5% per year. The City is trending at approximately 3% per year, with approximately 100 new homes being built each year.
The use of irrigation systems to water landscaping and lawns is the #1 driver of water demand in the summer, using approximately 2/3s of the available supply.
CAN’T THE CITY OF HEATH STOP ISSUING NEW HOME PERMITS?
The City did enact a temporary residential and commercial building moratorium on November 14 through March 13, 2024.
The purpose of the pause was to provide time to develop ordinances that support water conservation including landscaping suggestions and irrigation system requirements before any new plats were submitted.
However, there is a statute at the state level called “Local Government Code, State of Texas, Chapter 245.” Chapter 245 that prohibits Texas cities from withholding permits for any project, whether residential or commercial, for which a development permit has been submitted. Note only submitted, not approved.
The state refers to these types of projects as being “vested.” Simply put, the moratorium enacted last fall, or any new moratoriums, cannot not by law apply to any property development already submitted or in progress.
For example, the moratorium implemented last fall did not apply to 900 residential lots that were already classified as being vested. Many of these higher density lots became vested prior to the adoption of the 2018 Comprehensive Plan, which limits home density to an average of one home per acre.
The City is now trending at approximately a 3% growth rate per year, which comes to about 100 – 125 new homes being built each year. The 900 homes vested prior to the moratorium represent a nine-year supply of lots for the houses here in Heath.
Had the City taken action to apply the moratorium to these vested projects, it would have subjected itself to lawsuits from the property owners.
You can read here: LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE CHAPTER 245. ISSUANCE OF LOCAL PERMITS (texas.gov)
IF NEW HOME LOTS WITH PLATS APPROVED IN THE PAST ARE LEGALLY ENTITLED TO BUILD, WHAT ELSE CAN THE CITY DO TO LIMIT THE DEMAND ON OUR WATER SUPPLY?
The City of Heath is now working with a consultant to identify the infrastructure, storage capacity and all available water sources to secure and protect our ability to serve our customers. This is not an easy task. It will take up to five years and considerable expense.
Sourcing water in the face of population growth and changing weather patterns is going to become a new norm: not just here in Heath, but throughout the state, the U.S. and internationally. Even as we work to expand our capacity, citizens will have to change their water consumption behavior. With watering lawns with an irrigation system being the #1 drain on our system. So, education is a big thing.
The City Council adopted new landscape and irrigation ordinances in March 2024 that promote conservation to minimize irrigation water demand from future construction.
Additionally, the City is in communication with HOA leaders throughout the community to educate them on the situation and encourage them to foster conservation in their own subdivisions. A primary step is to stop requiring residents to install sod and fining them for brown lawns.
Nobody should be installing new landscaping or sod from May – September.
Who is the City of Heath’s Water Supplier?
The City of Heath’s water supplier is the City of Rockwall, which is a member city of the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD).
What is the NTMWD?
The NTMWD is a shared regional system that serves 80 North Texas communities. NTMWD acts as a regional wholesaler of water to its member and customer cities.
How Does the Water Get to My Tap?
Just like any product, there is a water system supply chain that must be operated, maintained and upgraded to provide expected service needs and to meet a constantly growing demand. When this investment is not made, there can be drastic failures. See infographic below.
Water is a Commodity
The NTMWD supplies water to 2 million north Texas customers/residents. This number is expected to grow to 3.7 million customers / residents in the next 50 years. Every community will be competing for the same water, which means this limited resource will become more expensive and its use more restricted.
What Resources or “Assets” does NTMWD have to Meet this Growing Demand?
The NTMWD owns and operates:
- Six water treatment plants
- 610+ miles of water transmission pipelines
18 major pump stations (raw and treated water) - Two major water supply sources owned and operated by the NTMWD: Bois D’ Arc Lake and East Fork Reuse Project.
- NTMWD also has water rights to draw from Lakes Lavon, Texoma, Chapman (Cooper) and Tawakoni.
What about Lake Ray Hubbard?
NTMWD does NOT draw water from Lake Ray Hubbard, which is a reservoir for the City of Dallas. The level of Lake Ray Hubbard does not affect the conservation needs of NTMWD member and customer cities.
What is Heath’s Water Storage Capacity?
Heath’s maximum nominal current storage facilities are:
- One, 3-million-gallon ground storage tank
- One, 1.5-million-gallon elevated tank
- One, 0.5-million-gallon elevated tank
However, these storage facilities are rarely full due to operational demands and the greatest amount of storage is almost 4 miles outside of the Heath City limits (near IH 30).
PDF RESOURCES
- HEATH WATER WISE: PLANNING FOR CONSERVATION
Emergency Plan to promote efficient use of water - IRRIGATION QUICK GUIDE
How to cycle your irrigation system for efficiency - AVOID LANDSCAPE RUN-OFF
Learn about cycle & soak irrigation - NTWMD EXISTING & PLANNED SUPPLIES
Map of NTWMD area water sources
ONLINE RESOURCES
- WATER SYSTEM UPDATE PRESENTED TO CITY COUNCIL
March 28, 2023 Audio and presentation to City Council - WATER MY YARD
Sign up for recommendations on when and how much to water your lawn. - NORTH TEXAS MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT
Find additional resources on the NTMWD website. - TEXAS SMARTSCAPE
Effective water use for Texas landscapes
LATEST PUBLIC/ZONING NOTICES
ZONING NOTIFICATION: NE CORNER FM 740 AND HEATHLAND CROSSINGNovember 20, 2024: 5:52 pm - 5:52 pm- PUBLIC NOTICE: CUP ACCESSORY BUILDINGS 517 TERRY LANENovember 20, 2024: 5:45 pm - 5:45 pm