SUBJECT: 2024 Water Conservation Plan and 2024 City of Houston Drought Contingency Plan.
RECOMMENDATION: Adopt an ordinance approving the 2024 City of Houston Water Conservation Plan and 2024 City of Houston Drought Contingency Plan, and adopt an ordinance amending Chapter 47 of the Code of Ordinances, Houston, Texas, relating to water shortages.
SPECIFIC EXPLAINATION: The Texas Water Development Board (“TWDB”) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality require utilities that provide treated water service to 3,300 or more connections to adopt a water conservation plan that meets the minimum requirements set forth in Title 30, Chapter 288 of the Texas Administrative Code, and to adopt an updated water conservation plan every five years. The 2024 City of Houston Water Conservation Plan (the “Water Conservation Plan”) is the required five-year update to the 2019 City of Houston Water Conservation Plan. The Water Conservation Plan meets statutory requirements and describes Houston’s water system and customer base, explains Houston’s current conservation goals and targets, and discusses current and future programs to meet those goals and targets.
TWDB requires that the Water Conservation Plan include a copy of Houston’s drought contingency plan that meets the requirements set forth in TWDB’s Water Conservation Plan Guidance Checklist, Form TWDB-1968. The 2024 City of Houston Drought Contingency Plan (the “Drought Contingency Plan”) meets those requirements and establishes the procedures Houston will follow in case of a water shortage emergency consistent with Chapter 47, Article VII of the City of Houston Code of Ordinances (“Water Shortages”). The Drought Contingency Plan has been updated to reflect its adoption in 2024 and is amended to make such non-substantive changes to the Code as are necessary to conform to the provisions adopted in this Ordinance. These changes include:
- Update the administrative procedures and re-define water shortages stages
- Provide clarity on water shortage restrictions, variances, and penalties for water customers; and
- Ease burdens on water customers during water shortages
These changes provide our customers with greater flexibility in how each chooses to conserve water, while enabling the City to better manage and mitigate water shortages. The community will benefit from improved water reliability, ensuring long-term water availability and reducing the impacts of severe droughts.
The Water Conservation Plan and the Drought Contingency Plan were presented to the Service Delivery Committee on August 28, 2024 and made available for public comment for a two-week period which ended September 11, 2024.
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Randall V. Macchi, Chief Operating Officer
Houston Public Works