GREENVILLE — The City of Greenville may be unable to obtain water from Lake
Tawakoni by Thanksgiving, should the drought continue.
The City Council intends Tuesday to consider the city’s options for supplying
water to local residents in the event it can no longer pump from the reservoir
due to low water levels.
The Council is scheduled to meet in a work session at 5 p.m. Tuesday and
in regular session at 6 p.m. in the Municipal Building, 2821 Washington
Street.
Department of Public Works Director Massoud Ebrahim has recommended the
Council hire an engineering firm to come up with a plan which would allow
the City of Greenville to capture water from deeper levels on Tawakoni than
is currently possible.
Recent extended forecasts show little or no improvement in the current extreme
drought conditions through at least October. That is not good news for Lake
Tawakoni. Water levels on the lake are falling at the rate of 12 to 18 inches
per month.
Despite virtually no rainfall during spring, the City of Greenville has
been able to avoid implementing water rationing, thanks to heavy rains in
February and March and the fact it is able to pump water from Lake Tawakoni
to maintain the municipal reservoir system.
The lake’s levels were already receding last October, when the Council authorized
the purchase of an emergency submersible pump to make sure the city’s two
regular pumps could continue to obtain water. The pump was installed in
March and has helped keep the water flowing. But that situation could change
in the very near future if rain does not start falling.
Earlier this week, the lake’s elevation was estimated at 429.74 feet. The
city’s raw water intake structure cannot obtain water below 429 feet. With
the submersible pump, the city can pump water down to 424 feet.
“If the lake level continues to fall at 18 inches per month, Greenville
will need another alternative in four months,” Ebrahim wrote in a memo to
the Council.
Ebrahim is recommending the Council hire Freese and Nichols Engineering,
at a cost of $17,500, to come up with an action plan with three alternatives
for how the city can continue to obtain water from Tawakoni if the lake
falls below 424 feet, along with estimates for how much each option might
cost the city.
“This study will give the city the tools and costing approach for a well
developed plan in the event of extended drought conditions,” Ebrahim said.
