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The city of Bryan is requesting residents voluntarily conserve water by limiting the amount used for outdoor watering until further notice.

Stage one of the city’s drought contingency plan started Monday afternoon to raise awareness of water demand conditions, according to Bryan Public Works Director Jayson Barfknecht.

“With the weather we have seen this last week, we have had a large number of [water pipe] leaks,” he said. “We have staff who worked 24 hours around the clock trying to fix leaks, and we have had two crews out working, and we put a third crew out on Saturday. We also asked staff from another department to help out.”

Barfknecht said he is asking residents to keep in mind the ongoing drought and their use of water. A water line broke near South College Avenue around 3 a.m. on Saturday, he said, and about 30% of the water from one of Bryan’s water towers was lost in less than an hour.

“We ask that people help mitigate the load on our water system as we produce the water and meet the demand,” he said. “We want that water available for the basic needs of the residents, and for it to be available in case of an emergency. When we were down 30% in an hour, if we were to have a fire at that point in time, we might have had a little difficulty putting out the water needed.”

Bryan water customers are requested to follow this schedule for outdoor water use until further notice:

For addresses ending in 0, 1, 2 and commercial meters, designated watering days are Thursday and Sunday.

For addresses ending in 3, 4, 5 and homeowners associations, designated watering days are Tuesday and Friday.

For addresses ending in 6, 7, 8, 9, designated watering days are Wednesday and Saturday.

Outdoor water use is discouraged between the hours of 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., except with hand-held buckets or hand-held hoses equipped with a positive pistol grip nozzle or other device that automatically shuts off water flow when the hose is not being used, according to city staff.

The time restrictions do not apply to the irrigation of commercial plant nurseries, irrigation using reclaimed water, new landscape installation during installation and the first 10 days, and the testing of new irrigation systems or existing irrigation systems under repair, according to city staff.

Bryan residents who have water services provided by the Wickson Creek Special Utility District are asked to continue following stage three of the drought contingency plan, according to Kent Watson, the general manager for the utility district.

“We have been under stage three since Friday last week, and we noticed some positive response from our customer base,” Watson said Monday. “But we are still struggling to maintain all of our water towers to the proper levels, so we need to remain in stage three until things get better.”

The Wickson Creek Special Utility District services 1,600 homes or businesses in Bryan near the east side of the city, Watson said. Stage three requires that irrigation systems and hose end sprinklers be prohibited for watering lawns, but watering by hand is allowed on certain days, he said.

Watson said all entities that supply water are working together.

“Water suppliers all across the state are having the same problem, and it goes back to irrigation, that is where the big problem is,” he said. “We are all going to have to live with browner lawns.”

Wickson Creek Special Utility customers are restricted to follow this watering schedule until further notice:

Trees, shrubs and flower beds may be watered from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. on designated watering days with handheld hoses, buckets, tree watering bags or drip irrigation only.

For addresses ending with 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, watering is limited to Sunday and Thursday.

For addresses ending with 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, watering is limited to Saturday and Wednesday.

Outside watering is prohibited on Monday, Tuesday and Friday for all Wickson Creek Utility customers.

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