To avoid drought, Round Rock promotes year-round voluntary water conservation.
The NWS defines a drought as a deficiency in precipitation over an extended period, normally a season or more.
In 2011, Texas had an average of 14.8 inches of rain for the year.
The majority of Round Rock’s conservation effort focuses on educating city water users on best practices.
“I’m a licensed irrigator, so I do irrigation evaluations and that basically means going out to somebody’s house and teaching them how to use an irrigation system, running through the system, explaining any problems, talking to them about solutions and about the rebates,” Woods said.
Currently, Round Rock uses a tiered water rate system, which is implemented May 1 of each year.
The city is evaluating this system through a water rate study that is set to end in June and may move to a tiered system throughout the entire year for residential use, while issuing a flat system for commercial use.
“As a customer, you would be able to log in and see your usage in almost real time,” Thane said.
“Right now, they get a bill once a month, but with this they can be more aware of it.” Thane said that since the drought in 2011, people have been more conscious about monitoring their water consumption.
Although the conservation effort is implemented on a voluntary basis, the city does have measures in place in case there is reckless use.