Abilene utilities director recommends return to three‑day watering; council signals consensus to stay at two days

Abilene’s director of water utilities, Matthew Dain, updated the City Council on reservoir storage and the city’s water conservation plan, saying combined storage for Phantom and Hubbard reservoirs now supports a less stringent watering schedule but that continued monitoring is needed.

Dain described the city’s water conservation plan (codified in the utility ordinance) and explained that the plan uses combined storage percentage for Phantom and Hubbard to determine drought response stages. He said Hubbard’s larger volume skews the combined percentage and that although Phantom may appear relatively fuller, the combined metric is what triggers watering restrictions.

The plan prescribes year‑round management and baseline restrictions; the city has typically required a minimum of three‑day‑per‑week outdoor watering and moves to two‑day and then stricter stages as combined storage drops into lower bands. Dain said the state requires the water conservation ordinance to be renewed every five years and described the consultants (EHD and HDR) who modeled reservoir scenarios during the drought of record.

Dain told council members the reservoir picture supports a move back to a three‑day allowance under the plan, but council members and staff weighed the practical effect: some council members preferred staying with the two‑day schedule given uncertainties at Hubbard and the approach used in recent years to avoid oscillating between stages. Council members also asked about modeling, enforcement and whether the city sees measurable conservation gains when moving between early stages.

Council members asked Dain about the expected time to reach the next trigger if no additional rain fell; Dain estimated approximately five to ten months (around six to seven months using recent slopes) before the next trigger might be reached under ongoing dry conditions. The mayor and other members asked staff to use the city’s website and public information channels to publish lake level charts and the water conservation plan.

Although the discussion did not produce a formal vote, the mayor said the consensus of the council was to remain at two‑day outdoor watering. Staff said the change in formal restrictions under the ordinance (for example, moving back to three‑day) typically becomes effective when conveyed at a media conference or council meeting, and the utility department will work with public information to notify the public.

Dain reiterated that the ordinance includes stages tied to combined reservoir percentage and to total plant throughput (daily pumpage thresholds), and that enforcement historically has relied more on education and encouragement than strict enforcement.