Subject: Requesting an Ordinance approving the additions requested by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to the City of Houston’s 2019 Water Conservation Plan.
Recommendation: It is recommended that City Council adopts an Ordinance approving TCEQ’s requested administrative additions to the City of Houston’s 2019 Water Conservation Plan.
Specific Explanation: On July 31, 2019, City Council approved City of Houston’s 2019 Water Conservation Plan per Ordinance No. 2019-572.
After reviewing the Plan, TCEQ requested that the City of Houston’s 2019 Water Conservation Plan include additional text explicitly referencing Title 30 TAC Chapter 288 in the contract Customer Requirements section of the Plan. Accordingly, Houston Public Works added the following text: “The Director shall apply any necessary curtailments between classes of customers in accordance with Section §11.039 of the Texas Water Code” in pages 100 and 101 under the sections of Utility and Operational Measures. In addition, the text “The City of Houston will include a provision in every wholesale water contract entered into or renewed after adoption of the plan, including contract extensions, that in case of a shortage of water resulting from drought, the water to be distributed shall be divided in accordance with Texas Water Code §11.039,” was added in page 103 under the Contract Provisions section. This non-substantive revision is made at the request of TCEQ. No further changes are needed in any water supply contract. TCEQ has requested a City Council Ordinance approving this non-substantive addition.
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Carol Ellinger Haddock, P. E.
Director
Houston Public Works