Several Central Texas communities are grappling with water shortages during this already long, hot summer.

Within the last few weeks, Mart, Valley Mills, Bruceville-Eddy, Riesel and Temple have announced varying degrees of mandatory water conservation, requiring citizens to stop doing tasks such as washing cars, watering lawns and filling pools.

The restrictions come after one of the hottest Junes on record, with the temperature reaching at least 100 degrees for 14 days. Friday seemed to continue that trend with a high of 102 in Waco, according to the National Weather Service. Waco also is more than four inches short of the normal rainfall total for the year.

In Mart, residents were able to avoid a catastrophe after a pump in the city water well quit last week.

“We’ve come up with some innovative stuff that has helped us produce more water than is being used,” said Mart Mayor Norman Hopping.

The pump sat at 630 feet below ground in the 3,100-foot well, but due to scant rainfall and intense heat, the well’s water level plunged to about 800 feet, said Jerald Flippin, Mart Public Works director. The lack of water caused the pump to burn out.

The town was under a stage 3 water conservation level from Saturday until Tuesday, when it was upped to the more severe stage 4. The conservation level was back at stage 3 late in the week.

However, other problems, this time due to an electrical malfunction at the standpipe, led to no water pressure. In response, the city once again issued a boil notice for the entire city. It remained in effect late Friday.

During the week’s water restrictions, Mart officials asked the town’s roughly 2,200 citizens to conserve water by putting off outdoor chores and washing laundry.

Due to low water pressure, residents on the outskirts of had more limited access to water. Some could turn on the tap for only a 30-minute window every other hour, Hopping said. Mart volunteer firefighters and other citizens brought cases of bottled water to those on the edge of town, he said.

To meet the demand for water, two water intake lines in Mart Lake, which the town also draws water from, were repositioned, Flippin said.

The Mart City Council is trying to decide if the pump in the well should be replaced. City council members were expected to vote on whether to buy a new pump earlier this week but tabled the item until they can review an inspection report with more information on the malfunction.

Jerald Flippin, city of Mart Public Works director, looks over the well at the city's surface water treatment plant Wednesday. (Duane A. Laverty photo)

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Mart isn’t the only community conserving water as a result of pump-related problems.

Bruceville-Eddy residents were under a stage 2 water conservation alert this week. City officials turned off a pump in the town’s ground storage tank to prevent it from burning out like Mart’s did.

“This had to be done for the good of all utility customers,” said Koni Billings, city secretary. “I was surprised at the amount of people calling for exceptions” such as filling pools, she said.

Dry ground is making water concerns worse. A well lost 250,000 gallons of water recently after a pipe broke under shifting ground, Billing said.

Rainfall earlier in the week “(did) not in any way mitigate what has happened in the last 30-60 days,” Billing said of the dry summer.

Riesel City Secretary Beth Nolan said the city’s water demand doubled over two days last week, causing a water pump to malfunction. Riesel residents are being asked to conserve water use indoors and refrain from using water for outdoor chores.

Riesel resident J.R. Riebschlager said employees at Cozy Cafe in Mart, where he works, are also saving water when they can.

He also said his family has been conserving water.

“We don’t water the grass anymore. The sun’s killing it,” he said.

apere@wacotrib.com

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