Greenbelt hits Stage 3 on drought plan

A lack of rain and persistent hot, windy weather has pushed Greenbelt Lake into Stage 3 of its drought contingency plan.

With the reservoir falling below a depth of 51 feet, officials with the Greenbelt Municipal & Industrial Water Authority have begun lowering the levels in municipal storage tanks as a method of conserving water.

Dropping the water tower levels reduces pressure on municipal water systems thereby cutting back on the amount of water going through the system and even reducing leaks in the system.
Greenbelt General Manager Bobbie Kidd says the biggest conservation is coming from the City of Childress, which uses more than 50 percent of the water consumed from the lake.

“We dropped the level in their storage tank by three feet, and that is producing a significant savings,” Kidd said.

The level in Clarendon’s water tower has been dropped ten feet, but Kidd said that was primarily due to a pump at the filter plant being taken offline for maintenance.

Water usage in Hedley is not a problem, Kidd said, and tank levels in Quanah are only kept at 50 percent anyway.

The Greenbelt Reservoir reached Stage 3 on Friday, May 27, and the lake this week is at a depth of 50.91 feet.

Kidd said consumption has come down somewhat in recent days and the decline of the lake seems to be leveling off.

The next trigger in Greenbelt’s drought contingency plan will come if the lake falls another three feet. If that happens, member cities will be asked to implement their own water conservation rules.

The water authority says Greenbelt has only received 0.48 inches of moisture since January 1.
Officials say the weather, not consumption, is the main problem facing the lake right now, but they still encourage everyone to conserve as much water as possible to help protect this vital resource.