Water Wise Denton

New Washer or Sink Fixture on your Christmas List? Make sure you are selecting a WaterSence model.

WaterSense, a voluntary partnership program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is both a label for water-efficient products and a resource for helping you save water.

The WaterSense label makes it simple to find water-efficient products, new homes, and programs that meet EPA’s criteria for efficiency and performance. WaterSense-labeled products and services are certified to use at least 20 percent less water, save energy, and perform as well as or better than regular models.

Take steps each day to save water and protect the environment by choosing WaterSense labeled products in your home, yard, and business. Learn more about WaterSense and how we can all get more by using less.

Buying in bulk can be a good thing, if there is plenty product. But water is a precious, limited resource. Everyone needs water, and Denton Water Utilities (DWU) believes everyone should be able to afford the water they need. DWU works hard to keep water affordable for all residents, charging only $3.63 per thousand gallons of water. That is a thousand gallons of water for less than the cost of two 20 oz bottles of water from a vending machine!

While we are proud to deliver high quality water to our residents’ homes and businesses at such a low rate, it becomes challenging to incentivize conservation when water is so inexpensive. Balancing water conservation and water affordability is a very serious challenge in a densely populated, drought prone region.

In response to this challenge, DWU uses a tiered rate structure, where we incentivize our customers NOT to buy in bulk. The amount of water resident uses determines their rate as follows:

Lake Lewisville is now down to 75.7% and Ray Roberts is now down to 91.8%.

While summer usage was high, rainfall has also been extremely low. On average, Denton receives 30" of rain by October, yet this year we have only received 14", slightly less than half of what we are accustomed to. October is one of our rainier months, typically providing 5" of rain, month to date we have received about 1".

Many of us enjoyed the rain earlier this month, as did the landscape. If you have not irrigated since the rains, you may have noticed your plants drying out. Make note of the plants that are still doing well, and plan to incorporate more of these in your landscape this fall.

There is so much focus on saving water through irrigation habits, but what if you live in an apartment or have xeriscaping? There are still ways to conserve, check out these tips for conserving water while in the bathroom:

• Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth or shaving. Fill the sink to shave instead of letting the water run.
• Check toilets for leaks. Add about 12 drops of food coloring, or a leak-detection tablet, into the tank. If color appears in the bowl an hour later, then there is a leak.
• Install a toilet displacement device in the toilet tank. Place a plastic bottle, weighted with water or sand, into the tank, making sure that it doesn’t interfere with the flushing mechanism. Don’t use a brick, which may chip.
• If you are buying a new toilet, select a low-flush model that uses less than 1.5 gallons of water per flush.
• Take shorter showers. Install a water-saving showerhead, which can cut water usage in the shower from 5–7 gallons per minute to just 3 gallons per minute.

As the weather finally (somewhat, sort of) cools off, its a great time to think about next summer. Choose drought tolerant perennials for your landscape, check sprinkler heads, apply mulch, and consider xeriscaping for native beauty with minimal work.

Remember to adjust your sprinklers to account for the rain! Use water wisely and avoid flooding your yard.

Now is also a great time to add mulch to your yard and protect fall plantings.

Yesterday we used 5 million more gallons than used Sunday. While the cool spell was welcome and nice, lake levels are still decreasing. Lake Lewisville is now down 79.8% and Ray Roberts is down 93.2%. Please continue to follow the summer watering ordinance which is in effect through the end of September.

Yesterday's water usage was 29.5 Million Gallons. Thank you all for adjusting your water habits when it rained. The next few days predict rain, please continue to adjust your watering habits (especially set-it-and-forget -it sprinkler systems). While we are so very grateful for the much needed rain, the lake levels do still continue to drop. Lewisville is down to 80.8% and Ray Roberts is down to 93.6%.We can continue to mitigate lake level reductions by only irrigating when necessary.