LUCAS, Texas — The city of Lucas is asking residents to hold off on watering on Tuesday after a high demand for water usage left water levels critically low.
The city said it had a larger than usual draw on its water system between the evening hours of Aug. 25 and early morning hours on Aug. 26.
Dusty Kuykendall, the Mayor of Lucas said water levels reached 5 feet.
“Five feet is concerning, if we get to four feet the ground storage tanks don’t pump to our elevated tanks,” said Kuykendall.
He said there are pumps underground that refill the water tanks as people use the water throughout the city.
He said they usually refill the tanks fully at night. The city has roughly 10,000 people and uses 5 million gallons of water a day. He said they are growing and expect more residents in the next few years.
“We're seeing new homes built out, new landscapes that people don't want to see die so they're watering more than they might normally do,” said Kuykendall.
Kuykendall said the city’s water levels have recovered but they’re still asking residents to conserve as much water as possible for the foreseeable future.
“No one likes surprises, I think people are more prone to doing little things along the way than having to take drastic measures,” said Kuykendall.
The city said the third water tower is expected to be fully operational by the spring. Kuykendall said this would give them more opportunities for water storage in the future.
Kuykendall said the city of Lucas gets their water from the North Texas Municipal Water District.