Cedar Park enacts Stage 3 water restrictions as LCRA inflow trigger met; deepwater contingency barge ready
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Summary
City staff announced implementation of Stage 3 water-conservation rules after an LCRA inflow trigger, described enforcement and outreach plans, and updated council on a reassembled contingency barge and the $12 million cost to place it in service if needed.
Nanette McCartin, public works manager for Cedar Park, told the City Council on March 11 that the Lower Colorado River Authority’s inflow trigger prompted the city to enter Stage 3 water conservation on March 1, moving residential irrigation from twice-weekly watering to once-weekly watering.
McCartin said the inflow trigger is independent of current lake volumes and serves as an early indicator of a prolonged dry pattern; the city will return to a lower stage when combined storage reaches 1,100,000 acre-feet. She said the city began broad public outreach immediately and will begin formal enforcement of the Stage 3 schedule on March 31, giving residents time to adjust.
“The stage 3 watering schedule will allow customers to maintain one of their watering days,” McCartin said, and staff will rely first on education and outreach — pop-up website messaging, social media, targeted HOA emails and 400 roadway signs — before issuing citations tied to documented violations. She also described a temporary Stage 3 rate adjustment the city will apply; because much of the utility’s costs are fixed, she said lower use will not fully offset those charges.
Eric Ross, director of public works and utilities, updated the council on the city’s contingency barge for a deepwater intake. He said the contingency barge has been reassembled and is staged at a Lakeway marina but cannot be deployed until lake elevation reaches the required level and land-lease constraints are met. Ross said the cost to put the barge into service is about $12,000,000.
“The contingency barge is reassembled. It is in a marina in Lakeway and it is ready to be deployed,” Ross said. “When we reach that elevation of 630, which could be as soon as this July, we'll be pulling it in place.”
McCartin told the council the city’s water supply is managed under both LCRA’s plan and the city’s drought contingency plan and that Stage 3 was triggered this year by inflow measurements rather than by passing the 900,000-acre-foot storage threshold. She noted the city will offer limited variances for new landscaping but not extended temporary watering allowances.
Council members asked clarifying questions about the barge timeline and the temporary rate adjustment. McCartin pointed council members and residents to the city’s water portal and to waterthriftycedarpark.org for FAQ, watering schedules and a meter-usage portal that tracks hourly household usage; participation in that portal was about 25 percent at the time of the presentation.
The council did not take formal action under this agenda item; staff said compliance would begin March 31 and that outreach and enforcement would be coordinated through the utilities and communications teams.
