WACO, Texas — Drought conditions are drying out Waco's water sources with Lake Waco now several feet below where it was last year. City-wide water restrictions are supposed to help that.
"That's just not feasible for us to continue using water the way we've been using it if we want to extend the life of our lake at this point," Utility Services Director Lisa Tyer told 25 News.
Now two weeks into those restrictions, the city said it’s helping with some neighborhoods showing as much a 12% decrease in usage. They were originally asking for just 5% across Waco.
"If we could get the 5% we're looking for, we just delayed the likelihood that we need to go into a more serious rationing," Tyer said.
The main restrictions are for outside water usage, but simple actions inside like turning off the water when you're washing dishes or brushing your teeth can help as well.
"All those for your own household, they're not huge amounts of water that you're saving," Tyer said. "But when you have 100,000 people and they all do it, then it becomes a measurable amount."
The goal is to conserve as much water as possible until central Texas starts to see more rain. The 25 weather team predicts it might be a while before that happens.
"Eventually there will be an end to this heat wave. Typically these heat waves got to end either with a tropical system comes in or the system causes it backs off," meteorologist Josh Johns said. "The problem is models aren't really showing that happening anytime soon."
The city said it needs people to continue to conserve.
