A trip to Austin scheduled by City officials to meet with leadership from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) planned for today has been cancelled as a result of the Lower Neches Valley Authority (LNVA) amending their call on water rights affecting Tyler.
“We are extremely happy that the LNVA amended their call so that it no longer affects Tyler,” said Mayor Barbara Bass. “Senator Eltife and his staff were instrumental in assisting us with resolving this issue and we are very thankful for their strong representation at the State level.”
In November, the LNVA issued a request to the TCEQ to “call” their water rights on the Neches River. The LNVA’s water rights are senior to those of the City of Tyler and most other water rights holders on the Neches River. This call resulted in an order from the TCEQ to the City of Tyler to maintain and not exceed a specific water level in our lakes that was equal to the level present on Nov. 10, 2011.
“The level of the lakes in early November was significantly lower than normal due to the very dry conditions we experienced over the summer and early fall,” said Tyler Water Utilities Managing Director Greg Morgan. “With the expectation that we will experience a dry spring and summer, we were very concerned about this directive.”
Upon learning of the TCEQ order, the City of Tyler filed a motion to overturn the director’s decision with the TCEQ and retained a water law specialist and hydrology engineer to assist with developing a case for the withdrawal of the order. A meeting was planned for Jan. 17 with the Director of the TCEQ; however, before the meeting took place the LNVA issued a request to the TCEQ to amend their call from the original 1913 and 1924 dates to a Nov. 12, 1963 priority date. Tyler has three separate water rights; the oldest, with a priority date of 1915, is Lake Bellwood. The other two are associated with Lake Tyler/Lake Tyler East with priority dates of 1947, 1953 and 1956, for a total of 40,223.77 acre-feet per year all designated as municipal, industrial and domestic purposes.
“Because Tyler’s water rights are senior to the 1963 date the LNVA is now calling, we will no longer be affected,” added Morgan.
The authority of the TCEQ director to issue a call on water rights was provided in the last Texas State Legislative session. This was only the second time the agency had exercised this authority with the first being another recent call on the Brazos River. In that case the call was graduated, starting with junior rights and escalating as the need grew.
The City of Tyler will continue its current Mandatory Water Restrictions due to the low lake levels.
“Given the diminished levels of our reservoirs, we feel it is prudent to continue with the Mandatory Water Restrictions put in place on Dec. 13,” added City Manager Mark McDaniel. “We will continue to monitor the situation closely to determine when these restrictions can be lifted.”
“Step Two” of the Drought Contingency Measures as outlined in Article X (Water Conservation/Emergency Demand Management Plan) and Article VIII of the City of Tyler Code of Ordinances call for mandatory water conservation measures to prohibit water waste. Water waste is defined as washing house windows, sidings, eaves and roof with a hose (without the use of a bucket); washing driveways, streets, curbs and gutters, washing vehicles without a cut-off valve and bucket; unattended sprinkling of landscape shrubs and grass; and filling of swimming pools.
Outdoor water usage, such as irrigation of landscaped areas, is limited to Sundays and Thursdays for customers with a street address ending in an even number (0,2,4,6,8) or Saturdays and Wednesdays for water customers with a street address ending in an odd number (1,3,5,7,9). Additionally, irrigation should be done between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Use of hand-held hoses, watering cans and drip systems for irrigation may be done at any time.
The goal of the Step Two drought measures is to reduce water consumption by 10 percent.