The City of Tomball last week issued a request to its residents to restrict its water usage while the Tomball area continues to experience increasingly severe drought conditions.

The voluntary restrictions are part of Stage I of the Drought Contingency Plan.

A report issued by the city last week state that the “current high demand on the city’s public water system, caused by a considerable increase in recreational and irrigation use associated with high temperatures and a significant lack of rainfall has caused the city’s water demand to exceed 60 percent of its production capacity on June 13 and 14, and again on June 17.”

The report said that the pattern should continue over the next several days.

State I of the plan calls for water customers to voluntarily limit the irrigation of landscaped areas to Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for customers with a street address ending in an even number, and Wednesdays, Friday and Sundays for customers with a street address ending in an odd number.

In addition, they are asked to only water their lawns only between the hours of midnight and 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. to midnight on the designated days.

Water customers are also asked to “practice water conservation and to minimize or discontinue non-essential water use.”

The city also issued several tips on how to conserve water:

· Avoid watering in the middle of the day or during windy weather.

· Check your sprinkler frequently and adjust sprinklers so only your lawn is watered and not the house, sidewalk, or street.

· Divide your watering cycle into shorter periods to reduce runoff and allow for better absorption every time you water.

· Make sure you know where your master water shut-off valve is located. This could save several gallons of water and damage to your home if a pipe were to burst.

· Install a rain shut-off device on your automatic sprinklers to eliminate unnecessary watering.

· Use a hose nozzle and turn off the water while you wash your car and save more than 100 gallons.

· Use an alarm to remind you when its time to turn off the manual sprinkler.

· Apply mulch to garden beds once the soil has warmed up in the spring. Mulch greatly reduces the evaporation rate from the soil and keeps roots cooler in the heat of summer.

For more information about water restrictions, call the City of Tomball Public Works Department at 281-290-1400.

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