Published: July 02, 2009 04:13 pm      

Hudson Oaks steps to severe drought plan

Chelsea L. McGowan

cmcgowan@weatherforddemocrat.com

The City of Hudson Oaks has enacted Stage 2 of its drought emergency plan, which defines conditions as “severe”.

The news release reads, “In this period of extreme temperatures, the demand on the water system has been extremely high, creating a situation in which water well and tank levels cannot be maintained without immediate steps being taken to conserve.”

According to city administrator Sheri Campbell-Husband, citizens will be asked to step up their game when it comes to water saving measures.

“We had previously asked, when we went to Stage 1 back in April, that people not water during that window in the daytime when evaporation is the highest,” she said. “Now we’re asking that they not water outdoors at all on Friday or Monday.”

Campbell-Husband explained, as water usage is the highest during the weekend, conservation on Friday and Monday will give water sources time to both prepare for and recover from peak usage.

“The way our plan is written, we go to different stages based in part on whether or not our water wells can recover to a certain level overnight,” she said. “If we get to the point where they’re not refilling to 75 percent overnight for a five-day period, we go to Stage 2. Particularly going into the July 4 weekend, we were really concerned that we would get to a position where our tanks and wells would be full enough to have sufficient water for fire protection.”

For more information on drought conditions in Hudson Oaks, call City Hall at 682-229-2400.