Brownsville enters drought stage 2, water restrictions active

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The City of Brownsville has entered a Stage 2 drought warning.

These restrictions come months before summer arrives in the Valley.

Brownsville officials share how they are asking the community to conserve water.

“It’s really critical to try and conserve water now while we can,” Ryan Greenfeld, Communications Manager with Brownsville Public Utility Board said.

According to city leaders, drought stage 2 happens when there is a decrease in water availability from the main reservoirs Amistad and Falcon.

Leaders with Brownsville PUB say levels at both locations have fallen so scaling down on water usage is needed.

“It happens when we typically get to 25% and that’s signaling that there could be potential water shortages ahead so where trying to put some restrictions in place to hopefully curtail a little bit of the usage,” Greenfeld said.

Drought stage 3 conservation restrictions are implemented when levels decrease even more; reaching 15% which is what the city is trying to prevent from happening.

“If we have to go into stage 3, then the water restrictions will increase. We’re trying to avoid that as much as possible,” Odee Ann Leal, Emergency Management Director with the City of Brownsville said.

Conservation efforts include washing cars only twice a week, fixing all repairs to avoid water leaks and using water efficient appliances.

Most importantly conserve water when watering a lawn or plants.

“We do not recommend them to water their yard and leave the water hose running in their yard or the sprinkler running for hours be cautious of when you turn on your sprinkler, to go back and turn it off,” Leal said.

If restrictions are broken there’s no fee, but that could change.

“Currently on stage 2 that we’re at there’s no fines if we do increase the stage level then there will be possibly some fines there will be some education also,” Leal said.

Officials with Brownsville PUB says usually the community sees this type of drought in the summer, so conserving water now is critical.

“So when you’re looking at the driest time of the year coming we are really trying to look further ahead and want to make sure people are aware so they can start making some adjustments now,” Greenfeld said.

BPUB is working with the city to monitor reservoir levels.

If you live in Brownsville and need more information on the appropriate times on when to water your lawn based on address click here.