Water Resources Commission Minutes - 04/10/2001MINUTES OF WATER RESOURCES COMMISSION MEETING
April 10, 2001
The Water Resources Commission met on April 10, 2001 at 4:00 p.m. in the Council
Conference Room of the Memorial Auditorium. Those in attendance were Water
Resource Members Charles Bentley, Liz Martin, Charles Barr, and Chris Neeb. Also
present were Council Liaison James Esther, Staff Representative David Lehfeldt, Public
Works Secretary Gloria Dicken, Monica Wolfson with the Times Record News, and Tina
Patel, Channel 3 Television Reporter.
• Charles Bentley called the meeting to order. Minutes from the March 27, 2001
Water Resources Commission Meeting were passed out to those present. Charles
Barr made the motion to accept the minutes as written, this was seconded by
Charles Bentley, and the minutes were approved as written.
• David Lehfeldt told the Commission about his trip to Houston and the AWWA/Water
Environment Federation Conference he attended. He was able to talk to people at
the conference about water audits and how they have been involved with major
businesses. He talked about cooling towers for major businesses having about 50%
major water use problems, and how they talked about the benefits of the water
audits. Mr. Bentley asked Mr. Lehfeldt how the City would go about getting water
audits for Wichita Falls. Mr. Lehfeldt said that the City would need to hire a
contractor to do the work (free to citizens) and that it would have to be put in the
budget for the upcoming year. Mr. Bentley asked Mr. Lehfeldt if he would make
contacts to see what costs would be to hire someone for the next fiscal year and put
it on the budget.
• Mr. Lehfeldt had numerous topic of information for the Commission as follows:
• The current lake level at Lake Arrowhead was 80.1%, Lake Kickapoo was at
95.5 %, with a combination total of 84.6 %.
• The Hydrographic Survey at Lake Kickapoo has started and soon we will know
what the true lake capacity is.
• A question was asked about the new water bills and exactly what had changed.
Mr. Lehfeldt said the water had gone up 72 %, the sewer went up 4 %, with a
combination of a 43% overall increase on the water bills.
• The question was asked about another wastewater treatment facility and Mr.
Lehfeldt responded by saying that there had been some discussion about
building a new wastewater plant versus expansion of the River Road Plant.
• There was also some planning for another water tower, close to Certainteed that
would be part of building a 4th pressure plain. There are 3 pressure plains in
place: 1) Central, 2) North, and 3) East (287).
• Mr. Bentley then wanted to discuss possible permanent restrictions for a Water
Restrictions Ordinance step by step using the last Water Restriction Ordinance that
was in place, before the restrictions were lifted, as a guide for future use.
• SECTION 1:
■ The question on outside irrigation between the hours of 11:00 a.m. until 6:00
p.m. on any day except for hand -held hoses, soaker hoses or drip hoses, was
discussed. Everyone thought that this should be a permanent restriction for the
citizens of Wichita Falls.
■ The washing of motor vehicles at any location other than a commercial car wash,
car dealership, detail shop or automotive shop unless the hose is equipped with
a shut off nozzle was discussed. Everyone agree that this should be a
permanent restriction.
■ There was a lot of discussion about the planting, installing, and selling St. August
grass, sprigs or sod within the city limits of Wichita Falls. However, the WRC
decided that they would not be able to impose this restriction on the citizens.
■ Installation of new irrigation systems was discussed. The thought that they
should be designed by a licensed irrigation specialist to be water conserving was
talked about in length. The idea was that each new system should utilize zonal
irrigation, drip irrigation, subsurface irrigation and other water conserving
features. The plans would be made available to the City of Wichita Falls Building
officials when application for the permit is made. WRC members thought that
this should be amended for the do- it- yourself guy.
■ Everyone agreed that restaurants should not serve water to customers unless
requested.
• SECTION 2:
■ When the lake levels reach a combined capacity of 60% (or the demand exceeds
design treatment capacity) a drought watch will be initiated. The rest of this
section was discussed and most of the information was from the Drought
Contingency Plan already in place. Everyone agreed on the rest of the proposed
draft for this section.
• SECTIONS 3, 4, and 5:
■ Everyone agreed with the way things were worded in these sections and there
was very little discussion about these sections.
• SECTION 6:
■ Everyone agreed with this section but wanted the last sentence changed from
the Mayor announcing the end to the restrictions to City Council, by majority
vote, and after consultation with the Director of Public Works announcing the end
to the restrictions.
• SECTIONS 7, 8, 9, and 10:
• Everyone agreed to the wording of these sections as written.
• When the lake levels reach a combined capacity of 60% (or the demand exceeds
design treatment capacity) a drought watch will be initiated. Everyone agreed on
the rest of the proposed draft for this section.
• Mr. Bentley told the Commission that Kerry Maroney had put in his application for
Commission Board Member and that it would be presented at the next Council
Meeting for their approval. He anticipated that Mr. Maroney would indeed be
appointed to the Commission and asked that he be invited to the next meeting if so
appointed by Council.
• The next meeting for the WRC was set for the next week, April 19, 2001, at 4:00
p.m. in the Council Conference Room at the Memorial Auditorium. Mr. Lehfeldt said
that he would have the revisions to the draft ordinance available at the next meeting.
• At 5:55 p.m. the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully Submitted,
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Charles Bentley, ChairmaV
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE
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