Task force targets over-watering

Keeping your lawn green during Austin’s blistering hot summers may be a bit more complicated – and lot more expensive – if steps recommended the city’s Water Conservation Task Force are eventually put into effect.

The task force has given preliminary approval to a number of measures involving both residential and commercial irrigations systems mandating a variety of measures designed to conserve water.

City Water Conservation Officer Tony Gregg told task force members that improper installation of irrigation systems is one of the biggest water wasters in the city.

“The current ordinance does not restrict properties from over-watering,” he said. “Neither does it restrict watering to between 7pm and 10am, when there is the least evaporation to heat and wind.”

There are currently no regulations for residential irrigation systems in Austin, nor does the city require permits and inspections when such systems are installed, he said.

Appointed in September, the Water Conservation Task Force seeks to implement aggressive water conservation measures by setting goals to reduce peak day usage by one percent per year for 10 years. The task force has already tentatively approved indoor measures for conservation, and on Nov. 17, approved recommendations for outdoor measures.

In December, the Task Force will consider and adopt measures pertaining to city and utility strategies, before approving a final set of recommendations in January to go to the City Council.

Recommendations for outdoor watering regulations include:

• Requiring a watering schedule of no more than twice a week for residential customers.

• Prohibiting irrigation between 10am and 7pm between May 1 and Sept. 30 except for newly planted vegetation.

• Requiring automatic rain shut-off systems on all automatic sprinkler systems.

• Recommending all hose-end sprinklers use a hose timer, and

• Allowing hand-held hose watering anytime.

Those regulations would save the city some 6.2 million gallons per day (MGD) at a cost of just over $200,000 and the hiring of three code enforcement employees. Gregg said that while the state licenses irrigators, there is very little oversight and enforcement by either the city or the state in the design and installation of systems.

“Austin Water Utility irrigation staff has observed water loss of 20 to 50 percent from inefficient system design.” said Gregg. “Irrigation system standards and permits would raise the quality of the whole industry.”

Other recommendations by the task force include requiring new residential irrigation systems to obtain a permit and submit a design plan based on standards for city approval before installation. The system must be programmable, and it is recommended – but not required — that the controllers be weather-based (controlled over the internet based on current conditions.)

Regulations would also require installers to give the homeowner an irrigation design plan and a water budget for their lawn.

The task force also adopted recommendations that would strengthen current commercial irrigation standards, require new homes with landscaping to have at least six inches of topsoil, and require commercial and large residential irrigation systems to undergo an audit every three years to ensure proper operation.

Council Member Lee Leffingwell, chair of the task force, stressed that the regulations they have recommended are subject to change prior to the group’s final report to the entire City Council in January.

Planning Commission braces for Town Lake cases

The Planning Commission’s Codes and Ordinances subcommittee took a look at the Town Lake Waterfront Overlay ordinance at a meeting last week, but their intention was to preview upcoming cases and not to review of the ordinance itself.

Cases that have been winding through other commissions – including the teardown and redevelopment of an apartment complex site on Riverside Drive – will soon be heard at Planning Commission. Last week, Greg Guernsey and Ricardo Soliz of the Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department outlined some of the history and specifics of the overlay ordinance and its zoning cases.

Despite the presentation, the subcommittee took no action. The presentation was intended to provide an update and background and not drive any recommendations. Neighborhood members, including those from Bouldin and Zilker, expressed concerns that development needs to be consistent with existing neighborhood plans.

The City Council commissioned ROMA to review the South Shore sub-district of the waterfront overlay six years ago. None of those recommendations were ever implemented. At the time, the issue was the Gotham condominium project at the foot of the Congress Avenue Bridge. Those recommendations included a size limit on the South Shore of 50,000 square feet and a setback that would remain consistent from property to property.

“There is a whole lot of interest out there in having a whole new set of standards to serve the purposes of the Town Lake Corridor Study and Waterfront Overlay,” said subcommittee chair Chris Riley after the meeting. “The concerns addressed in the ROMA study of the existing regulations six years ago were that the regs were not serving the underlying goals of the waterfront overlay very well.”

Consistency of setbacks – and height limitations – is something that Council will have to decide, subcommittee members said. When asked by community members last week whether the variances on height on some of the new projects could be justified as a “hardship,” they were told that such justification only applied to Board of Adjustment cases.

Commissioner Saundra Kirk, who requested a presentation on the ordinance, expressed her appreciation to the staff and neighborhood members who attended. She said that it was important that all stakeholders should be involved to “help us think through this” and to focus on solutions to the issues that will soon come before Council.

©2006 In Fact News, Inc. All rights reserved.

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