The City of Amarillo is asking residents to continue conserving water as the city’s reservoir remains well below normal capacity after a week under Stage 1 of its Drought Contingency Plan.

City Manager Grayson Path and Assistant City Manager Donny Hooper provided an update Monday on the city’s water situation and the conservation measures put in place over the past week.

Amarillo entered Stage 1 of its drought plan on Aug. 17 after reservoir storage levels fell to 60% of capacity. The reservoir has since dropped further and currently sits at about 54%.

“We are asking our residents, businesses, and institutions to help us reduce water use wherever possible and to follow the voluntary outdoor watering schedule,” Path said.

Under Stage 1, residents are asked to limit outdoor watering to no more than three days per week. Odd-numbered addresses should water on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, while even-numbered addresses should water on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Watering should take place only between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The city’s reservoir can hold about 500 million gallons and serves as a contingency reserve during periods of high demand or if there is a problem with the lines bringing water to Amarillo from the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority.

Hooper said the city is monitoring reservoir conditions daily. To move out of Stage 1, the reservoir would need to remain above 60% capacity for at least five days.

“We need to be at least five days above 60% full in the reservoir to come out of stage one, and we’ll continue to monitor that on a daily basis and we really need the reservoir to be completely full,” Hooper said. “That’s the goal, is to get it back to 100% so that when things happen or occur with our infrastructure, we have a major leak or something like that, we have water to recover.”

Hot, dry summer increases water demand

Officials pointed to an unusually hot and dry summer as a major factor in the reservoir's decline.

According to the National Weather Service in Amarillo, the area has received less than 5 inches of rain so far this year, compared with a normal accumulation of more than 14 inches by this point in the year.

Since the beginning of June, Amarillo has also experienced more than 30 days with temperatures reaching at least 100 degrees. Hooper said a typical summer sees about five such days.

The dry conditions extend across the region. The latest weekly report from the Texas Water Development Board showed a fourth consecutive week of drought expansion across Texas, with portions of the Panhandle experiencing exceptional drought, the most severe drought category.

The combination of heat and limited rainfall has also driven up water use. Hooper said Amarillo typically uses about 50 million gallons of water per day, but recent daily demand has climbed to roughly 80 million to 85 million gallons.

Despite the city's request for voluntary conservation when Stage 1 began, Hooper said demand has continued to increase.

City shuts off park irrigation and splash pads

The city has taken additional steps to reduce its own water use.

On Friday, Amarillo stopped irrigation at city parks and municipal facilities and shut down park splash pads. Hooper said those measures contributed to a slight recovery in the reservoir, which increased from 52% Friday to 54%.

“Basically what the city manager ordered is that we turn off all the irrigation systems to all of our parks, and all of our splash pads were closed down as well,” Hooper said. “We have also, of course, from the very beginning we’ve been following stage one restrictions in our golf courses where we’re watering every other day.”

City officials have also been communicating with local school districts about following the voluntary restrictions. Large commercial water customers have been asked to reduce irrigation as well.

Xcel Energy is the city's largest water customer, though the company primarily uses effluent water along with some fresh water. Hooper said some commercial customers have contacted the city to ask how they can assist with conservation efforts.

Stage 2 would bring mandatory restrictions

Amarillo's drought contingency plan was last triggered in 2022.

If the reservoir falls to 50% capacity, the city would move into Stage 2. At that point, voluntary conservation measures would become mandatory and violations could result in fines.

City officials are hoping conservation efforts can prevent the reservoir from reaching that threshold.

“We don’t want to get to the point where we start having to tell people, ‘This is what you have to do,’” Hooper said. “We think that we can all team up together here in Amarillo, just like we’ve always done in the past, and we can come together and meet those demands and be able to recover.”

Hooper also emphasized that the reservoir's decline does not mean Amarillo is running out of water.

“I’ll say thank you in advance to those that are willing to help, and those who are willing to participate in this,” Hooper said. “Water is important to all of us, and I also want to add … We don’t have a shortage of water. That’s not the case. It’s just our storage reservoir, where we are preparing for days like this, is starting to decline.”