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City of Bellmead public works employee Thomas Turner works on a waterline Thursday as coworker Matthew Contreas looks on.
Bellmead public works employee Thomas Turner works on a waterline Thursday.
Fresh rain Wednesday and Thursday, with more in the forecast, provided a little relief to the Waco area’s main water source as cities and water providers continue to enforce water restrictions and keep tabs on water consumption during an especially hot, dry summer.
All of McLennan County, along with almost 27% of the state, was suffering from exceptional drought, the worst of the U.S. Drought Monitor’s six categories, based on data as of Tuesday.
The city of Bellmead, which relies primarily on well water, passed a significant milestone Thursday in efforts to stabilize its water supply.
One of the city’s five water wells, its Concord well, is back up and functioning as of Thursday after weeks of repair, bringing some relief to the city’s water resources. Stage 2 restrictions remain in place, limiting watering to two nights per week, based on address.
On Aug. 4 city crews surged the well to flush the system and remove stagnant water. Now, the Concord well is back and running, bringing the city to four functional groundwater wells.
The city had been operating on three wells out of five. Having an additional well spreads out the workload more and reduces the amount of hours the other three will have to run, said Greg Snydal, Bellmead’s assistant director of public works.
“It really creates more of a cushion for us having that extra capacity because now we don’t have three wells running extra hard,” Snydal said.
An extra well also helps Bellmead avoid buying water from the city of Waco. Bellmead mainly uses water from its groundwater wells, but has the option to purchase water from Waco as needed.
Greg Snydal, Bellmead’s assistant director of public works, checks on the Concord well Thursday. The well is back to providing water to the city after a few weeks of repairs.
The Concord well is able to pump 900 gallons of water each minute. Snydal said on Thursday that the city produced 1.4 million gallons in 24 hours.
Although the additional well is predicted to ease Bellmead’s water strains, there is more work to be done, as its Barlow well is still down. Snydal said the well has likely passed its life expectancy, and the project to rehabilitate the fifth well is estimated to cost $182,000.
Meanwhile, Levi Water Supply Corp., which has 659 connections in eastern McLennan County and southern Falls County, issued emergency water restrictions by Thursday morning because a well at Water Plant 1 on Water Well Road is out of service.
The company is still investigating the cause of damage to the well’s pump and motor, which went down Wednesday night during inclement weather, manager Jim Sheffield said. He said it is possible lightning struck the well.
The restriction prohibits any outdoor watering or recreational use, and inappropriate use of water will result in discontinuation of service.
The city of Waco released new water guidelines on Monday, allowing for additional watering hours in the morning from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. on designated days based on address. Watering is still not allowed between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. any day.
Residents may also run buried drip irrigation systems at any time with the new conditions, but day and time restrictions apply to hose-attached sprinklers.
Waco residents’ conservation efforts saved about 98.27 million gallons of water since water restrictions went into play on July 13, bringing water production down about 9.6%, the city announced Monday.
Waco water conditions are anything but back to normal, though. The 98.27 million gallons Waco has saved over the past month equates to about 2.2 days’ worth of water use.
Unlike Bellmead, Waco relies on Lake Waco for its water supply, which is at 65.5% of its normal capacity. The city estimates more than 15 inches of rain is needed to recover Lake Waco from the drought.
The lake has been losing about 109 million gallons each day, and about 65.09 million of that is due to evaporation. About 44.25 million gallons are actually treated and used to provide water to the city.
Don’t break out the rain dances just yet. It is possible some of Lake Waco’s water could be replenished in the next week, with 0.71 inches of rain falling between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon at Waco Regional Airport, and predictions for rain in the upcoming week.
The daily loss of 109 million gallons has led the lake’s elevation to drop about 0.05 of a foot each day, according to the city of Waco. With the rain Wednesday and Thursday, however, the lake’s elevation Thursday evening was the same as it was Wednesday afternoon, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.
The National Weather Service forecast includes a slight chance of thunderstorms Friday night and Saturday, then a 30-40% chance of rain and storms again Sunday into the evening. A similar pattern is expected to follow into next week, with Monday night and Tuesday set at a 70% chance of precipitation.
The weather service predicts an average of 2 inches of rain for the area, with up to 4 inches possible in some spots.
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Kourtney David is a Baylor University graduate from Springfield, Missouri. She joined the Tribune-Herald staff in July 2022.
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City of Bellmead public works employee Thomas Turner works on a waterline Thursday as coworker Matthew Contreas looks on.
Greg Snydal, Bellmead’s assistant director of public works, checks on the Concord well Thursday. The well is back to providing water to the city after a few weeks of repairs.
Bellmead public works employee Thomas Turner works on a waterline Thursday.
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