HEATH, Texas — The city of Heath is warning its residents that water usage has exceeded the Stage 3 water restrictions threshold and is pushing the limits on the daily supply.
Heath purchases its water from the city of Rockwall and has a daily limit of 6 million gallons per day. Over the past seven days, Heath residents have used 5.9 million days per day twice (Monday and Wednesday) and nearly eclipsed the city's Stage 3 restrictions threshold of 5.7 million gallons on Thursday (5.63 million gallons).
"Every time the summer hits we trend four million, five million, last summer we went over six million gallons," said Heath City Manager Aretha Adams. The city averages around 2 million gallons of usage during non-summer months.
WFAA reported on a similar situation with McLendon-Chisholm, a smaller but growing town nearby in Rockwall County, which also gets its water supply from the city of Rockwall. McLendon-Chisholm has a daily limit of 2.1 million gallons per day and its water company has enacted Stage 5 water restrictions since our story aired.
Both Heath and McLendon-Chisholm requested more water allotment from Rockwall, but more than the agreed-upon amount would impact Rockwall's customers and impair their supply. Heath officials said their pumping capacity is nearly twice the amount they are allotted.
"The City of Rockwall provides water to the City of Heath and due to system limitations, we cannot provide more than 6 million gallons per day without negatively impacting Rockwall’s own system," said Mary Smith, city manager of Rockwall. "It’s been extremely hot and dry throughout the metroplex for several weeks and it’s important for us all to conserve water as much as possible. Rockwall implemented, by ordinance, a conservation plan in 2019 and it’s still in effect."
Heath was put under a Stage 2 water restriction on Aug. 5 after exceeding 90% of the daily water supply limit of 6 million gallons for two days in a seven-day period (5.4 million gallons). Heath's Stage 2 water restrictions allow watering with an irrigation system once per week on your designated day. No watering is allowed between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
"The situation is just too dire to continue giving warnings, we're past that point," said Adams.
The city says it has been starting messaging since early January about conservation. The city has also resorted to handing out citations. Adams tell WFAA that 'dozens' have been handed out. The citations range from $250 to $2,000.
In the notice on Friday, Heath officials said they would "closely monitor water usage over the weekend and on Monday to see if consumption is reduced." If not, then it is anticipated that Stage 3 restrictions will be initiated on Tuesday, Aug. 22. Under Heath's Stage 3 water restrictions, watering with an irrigation system is limited to once every other week on your scheduled day and weekend watering is prohibited.
"If you're adding more people to the pool taking more water out of it, eventually you're going to run into a problem," said Adams, citing the growth as one reason for the stress on resources.
Adams tells WFAA that the city council is moving forward with a consultant to address infrastructure improvements and to help find a "second source" of water beyond Rockwall.
For more information, visit the city of Heath website here.
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