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ORD 2002-16 - Drought Contingency Plan 08-20-2002ORDINANCE NO. 2002-16 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS, ADOPTING A DROUGHT CONTINGENCY PLAN; ESTABLISHING CRITERIA FOR THE INITIATION AND TERMINATION OF DROUGHT RESPONSE STAGES; ESTABLISHING RESTRICTIONS ON CERTAIN WATER USES; ESTABLISHING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF THE PLAN; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City of Huntsville, Texas recognizes that the amount of water available to the City and its water utility customers is limited and subject to depletion during periods of extended drought; and WHEREAS, the City recognizes that natural limitations due to drought conditions and other acts of God cannot guarantee an uninterrupted water supply for all purposes; and WHEREAS, Section 12.1272 of the Texas Water Code and applicable rules of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission require all public water supply systems in Texas to prepare a drought contingency plan; and WHEREAS, as authorized under law, and in the best interests of the citizens of Huntsville, Texas, the City Council deems it expedient and necessary to establish certain rules and policies for the orderly and efficient management of limited water supplies during the drought and other water supply emergencies; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS, that: SECTION 1: That the City of Huntsville, Texas Drought Contingency Plan attached hereto as Exhibit "A" and made a part hereof for all purposes, and the same is hereby adopted as the official policy of the City. This plan replaces the Drought Contingency Plan adopted in 1999 by Ordinance 99-21. SECTION 2: Any person, corporation, partnership, association or other entity violating any drought contingency measure or water conservation measure implemented by the City of untsville pursuant to the City of Huntsville, Texas Drought Contingency Plan shall be subject to the general penalty provisions set out in Section 2.01.08 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Huntsville, Texas, and a separate offense shall be deemed committed upon each and every day that any drought contingency measure is violated. SECTION 3: All ordinances that are in conflict with the provisions of this Ordinance be, and the same are hereby, repealed and all other ordinances of the City not in conflict with the provisions of this Ordinance shall remain in full force and effect. SECTION 4: Should any paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or section of this Ordinance be adjudged or held to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, the same shall not affect the validity of this Ordinance as a whole or any part or provision thereof, other than the part so declared to be invalid, illegal or unconstitutional. SECTION S: This Ordinance shall become effective from and after the date of its passage. PASSED AND APPROVED THIS 20' DAY OF AUGUST 2002. r WILLIAM B. GREEN, MAYOR ATTEST: Danna Welter, City Secretary APPROVED AS TO FORM: aul C. Isham, City Attorney CITY OF HUNTSVILLE DROUGHT CONTINGENCY PLAN Section 1: Declaration of Purpose, Policy, and Intent In order to conserve the available water supply and protect the integrity of water supply facilities, with particular regard for domestic water use, sanitation, and fire protection, and to protect and preserve public health, welfare, and safety and minimize the adverse impacts of water supply shortage of other water supply emergency conditions, the City of Huntsville hereby adopts the following regulations and restrictions on the delivery and consumption of water. Water uses regulated or prohibited under this Drought Contingency Plan are considered to be non-essential and continuation of such uses during times of water shortage or other emergency water supply condition are deemed to constitute a waste of water which subjects the offender(s) to penalties as defined in Section D of this Plan Section 11: Public Information and Education The public will be made aware of conservation and drought conditions by information and data transfer through via the City of Huntsville web page, releases to the local newspapers and radio stations, or if, necessary, by door-to- door notification. Section III: Coordination of Regional Water Planning Group The City of Huntsville is located within the Region H Water Planning area. A copy of this plan has been sent to the Region H Water Planning Group. Section IV: Criteria for Initiation and Termination of Drought Response Stages The Mayor or his/her designee shall monitor water supply and/or demand conditions on a daily basis and shall determine when conditions warrant initiation or termination of each stage of the Plan, that is, when the specified "triggers" are reached. The customers of the City of Huntsville water system will be notified of the initiation or termination of various stages via the local news media, or if necessary, by door-to-door notification Section V: Triggering Criteria for Initiation and Termination of Drought Response Stages : Stage 1 - Mild drought conditions occur when: a. Average daily water consumption reaches 85% of firm production capacity for a period of ten consecutive days; and b. Weather conditions are to be considered in drought classification determination. Stage 1 -Wild drought conditions terminate when: a. Average daily water consumption falls below 85% of firm production capacity for a period of five consecutive days; and b. Weather conditions are not considered to be in drought classification determination. Stage 2 - Moderate drought conditions are reached when: a. Average daily water consumption reaches 90% of production capacity for any ten day period; and b. Weather conditions indicate mild drought will exist five (5) days or more; and C. One ground storage tank or one clear well is taken out of service during mild drought period; and d. Storage capacity (water level) is not being maintained during period of 100% rated production; Stage 2 - Moderate drought conditions are terminated when: a. Average daily water consumption falls below 90% of production capacity for five consecutive days; and b. Weather conditions indicate mild drought have ceased to exist; and C. Ground storage tanks or clear wells that were taken out of service during mild drought period are restored to service; and d. Storage capacity (water level) is being maintained during period of 100% rated production; Stage 3 - Severe drought conditions are reached when: a. Average daily water consumption will not enable storage levels to be maintained; or b. Water system demand exceeds available high service pump capacity; or C. Water system is contaminated either accidentally or intentionally -- severe condition is reached immediately upon detection; or d. Water system fails - from acts of God (tornadoes, hurricanes) or man -- severe condition is reached immediately upon detection. Stage 3 - Severe drought conditions are terminated when: a. Average daily water consumption will enable storage levels to be maintained; or b. Water system demand ceases to exceed available high service pump capacity; or C. Water system is decontaminated; or d. Water system is restored - after acts of God (tornadoes, hurricanes) or man. Section VI: Drought Contin-gency Measures: The following actions shall be taken by the City when trigger conditions are reached. Stage 1- Mild Conditions: a. Advise the public through news releases of the mild drought conditions and publicize methods to voluntarily reduce water use; b. Encourage voluntary reduction of water use; C. Contact commercial and industrial users and explain necessity for initiation of water conservation methods. Stage 2 - Moderate Drought Conditions: a. Prohibit washing house windows, sidings, eaves and roof with hose, without the use of a bucket; washing driveways, streets, curbs and gutters, washing vehicles without cutoff valve and bucket, and unattended sprinkling of landscape shrubs and grass; draining and filling swimming pools and flushing water system; b. Other outdoor residential use of water will be permitted on alternate days - - even number house on even days of the month and odd number house on odd number days and at designated hours of the day (outdoor residential use consists of washing vehicles, boats, trailers, landscape sprinkler systems and irrigation, recreational use of sprinklers, outside showers [in parks] and water slides). C. Commercial and industrial users will be visited to insure volunteered conservation has been initiated. Stage 3 - Severe Drought Conditions: a. Prohibit all vehicle washing, window washing, outside watering (lawn, shrubs, faucet dripping, garden, etc.); b. Prohibit all public water uses which are not essential for health, safety and sanitary purposes including street washing, fire hydrant flushing, filling pools, athletic fields and golf courses and dust control sprinkling; C. Require permits for businesses using water as a basic function of the business, such as nurseries, commercial car wash, Laundromats, and high pressure water cleaning; d. Terminate water service in accordance to the following sequence: 1) Recreational 4) Industrial 2) Residential 5) Schools 3) Commercial 6) Hospital Section VII: Major loss of water supply Should the water supply to the City of Huntsville become unavailable from the usual sources due to catastrophic failure, contamination, or other occurrence, the City would provide water to its customers via tank truck or through an emergency inter-connect with Walker County Rural Water Supply. Section VIII: Implementation/Enforcement: No person shall knowingly or intentionally allow use of water from the City of Huntsville for residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, governmental, or any other purpose in a manner contrary to any provision of this Plan, or an amount in excess of that permitted by the drought response stage in effect at the time pursuant to action taken by the Director of Public Works, in accordance with the provisions of the plan. Any person who violates this plan is guilty of a class "C" misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500. Each day that one or more of the provisions in this Plan is violated shall constitute a separate offense. If a person is convicted of three or more distinct violations of this Plan, Director of Public Works shall, upon due notice to the customer, be authorized to discontinue water service to the premises where the violations occurred. Services discontinued under such circumstances shall be restored only upon payment of a re- connection charge, and any other costs incurred by the City of Huntsville in discontinuing service. In addition, suitable assurance must be given to the Director of Public Works that the same action will not be repeated while the Plan is in effect. Compliance with the Plan may also be sought through injunctive relief in the District Court. Section IX: Variances The Director of Public Works, or his designee, may, in writing, grant temporary variance for existing water uses otherwise prohibited under this Plan if it is determined that failure to grant such variance would cause an emergency condition adversely affecting the health, sanitation, or fire protection for the public or the person requesting such variance and if one or more of the following conditions are met: (a) Compliance with this Plan cannot be technically accomplished during the duration of the water supply shortage or other condition for which the Plan is in effect. (b) Alternative methods can be implemented which will achieve the same level of reduction in water use. Persons requesting an exemption from the provisions of this Ordinance shall file a petition for variance with the City of Huntsville within 5 days after the Plan or a particular drought response stage has been invoked. All petitions for variances shall be reviewed by the Director of Public Works, or his designee, and shall include the following: (a) Name and address of the petitioner(s). (b) Purpose of water use. (c) Specific provision(s) of the Plan from which the petitioner is requesting relief. (d) Detailed statement as to how the specific provision of the Plan adversely affects the petitioner or what damage or harm will occur to the petitioner or others if petitioner complies with this Ordinance. (e) Description of the relief requested. (f) Period of time for which the variance is sought. (g) Alternative water use restrictions or other measures the petitioner is taking or proposes to take to meet the intent of this Plan and the compliance date. (h) Other pertinent information. Variance granted by the City of Huntsville shall be subject to the following conditions, unless waived or modified by the Director of Public Works or his designee: (a) Variances granted shall include a timetable for compliance. (b) Variances granted shall expire when the Plan is no longer in effect, unless the petitioner has failed to meet specified requirements. No variance shall be retroactive or otherwise justify any violation of this Plan occurring to the issuance of the variance.