AMARILLO, TEXAS --
The City of Amarillo has begun stage one of the drought contingency plan.
Stage one is simply asking local residents to participate in voluntary watering schedules. Director of Utilities for Amarillo Emmett Autrey said, "It's big because, number one, it's the first time we've ever done it…it's big because 80 percent, well that leaves 20 percent of your capacity. If we lose one large water line then immediately, we would probably be in stage 3 or 4. So it's important for us to have folks helping us to keep the demand down."
With no end in sight to the drought in Texas, It's natural that the depletion of our water sources have grabbed the attention of local officials and residents.
"We can't just close our eyes and say, I don't see anything, because that way we become basically lost in our own world." Said Amarillo resident, Edie Martin, "And this world is here for all of us and if we take care of it and prepare it for tomorrow, they'll be able to say, 'this world is for all of us and we need to take care of it too'."
Local officials tell us that the reason that we have reached this point in the drought contingency plan is because we've reached 80% of our production capacity for 5 consecutive days. In order to step away from the plan we must reverse the formula and use less than 80 percent for 5 days strait.
CONTINGENCY PLAN: STEP ONE
-No watering on Saturday
-Even addresses water: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
-Odd addresses water: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday
IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO WATER ON ALL THREE DAYS.
