Horseshoe Bay conserves with drought-tolerant gardens, audits

CONNIE SWINNEY • STAFF WRITER

HORSESHOE BAY — Persistent drought has prompted a comprehensive water conservation campaign by the city of Horseshoe Bay that includes irrigation audits with potential fines, drought-tolerant demonstration gardens and a shift in perception about landscaping needs.

Horseshoe Bay is currently under Stage 3 watering restrictions, which include a once-a-week watering schedule, because of chronic drought conditions in the Highland Lakes.

Despite record wet weather in May, city officials say they will stick to the measures for now and continue to encourage water conservation among residents.

“Our goal is to get down 20 percent below our baseline year of 2011 on our consumption,” said Horseshoe Bay Water Conservation Inspector Bill Teeter.

Horseshoe Bay is nestled on Lake LBJ upstream from lakes Marble Falls and Travis and the Austin waterways.

In 2011, the volume of water consumption for Horseshoe Bay was 745 million gallons.

By 2014, the city had achieved 534 million gallons, Teeter said.

“Long term, we need to remember that we’re in a drought-prone region,” he said. “The population is always growing, and the pressure on the lakes is going to increase.”

Aspects of the city’s water conservation efforts involve public education and media outreach programs, online city water information, a rainwater harvesting campaign, demonstration gardens on the grounds of city hall and residential/commercial irrigation audits.

After more than a year since launching its irrigation audits, officials said they have recorded water savings.

Although residents can request an irrigation audit, “billing spikes” prompt closer looks at the property owners’ water systems by city crews.

The inspector checks flows, irrigation stations, heads and leaks and makes suggestions on how residents can operate their systems more efficiently, Teeter said.

“Our audits for calendar year 2014 brought savings of 9,000 gallons average per property,” he said. “I think the most important thing people get out of those landscape irrigation audits is they get numbers on how much their system uses in gallons per minute.”

The audits last year saved an average of between 2,000-7,000 gallons per year for each audited residence; commercial properties saved from 15,000-20,000 gallons.

“The city decided there was a real need to look at a long-term strategy on water conservation,” Teeter said. “Our biggest draw on our water supply is landscape irrigation.”

The city fines residents who refuse to correct issues with their irrigation systems. Fines range from warnings to 10, 15 and 20 percent of their bills, depending on the number and frequency of violations.

In April, the council conducted a groundbreaking to unveil its drought-tolerant demonstration garden program.

“We decided to point people in the direction of drought-tolerant landscaping. We have plants that you would usually use in beds,” Teeter said. “People can come look at those (plants in the garden) to get some ideas about landscaping so they can use less water in the future.”

Plants include sages, salvias, American century plants and lantana.

“The more thirsty grass variety such as St. Augustine grass are in widespread use here, so we’re trying to encourage people to try other varieties,” Teeter said. “You might replace it with buffalo grass, a Texas native.”

Officials believe changing the way residents view their landscape might have a critical impact on conservation efforts.

“The main thing going forward is for people to remain wary of their water use and be especially careful of their irrigation practices,” he said. “Yes, we do lose revenue, but on the other hand, we’re not a for-profit operation.

“The idea is to serve the public as well as we can and manage the utility so we don’t have to cut paychecks or lay off anybody else.”

connie@thepicayune.com