OCTOBER 2013
SUNRAYS | 7
ONLINE:
SCTXCA.ORG
Let’s Communicate!
Jim Romine, Executive Director
Water and its responsible use have be-
come key issues for our community over
the last few years. Strategic planning is
underway, which began with our initial
water wells in 2010 to ensure the con-
tinued beauty of our community, while
also being good stewards of the water we
use. The following article was written by
Steve Ricks, a Sun City Texas resident
and member of the Property & Grounds
Committee. The article explains our “Wa-
ter Issues” in a manner we hope everyone
can understand and appreciate. We are
very blessed to have Steve’s talents work-
ing on behalf of our community, and I
hope it helps us to understand the water
issues we have here in Sun City Texas.
– Jim
W
hat are the key concerns Sun
City Texas has regarding its
use of water, and what is be-
ing done to address them? These ques-
tions are often asked in parts, which
makes it difficult to clearly communicate
a complete answer, not to mention that
answers are rooted in a lot of detail. This
article attempts to provide a summary-
level explanation and understanding
of our key water issues (and suggested
remedies) in hopes that it provides more
clarity and context around this impor-
tant subject.
First and foremost, our water situation
in Sun City Texas is not dire. In fact, it
would be a fair assessment to say that
most communities would much prefer to
be in our position than in their own. The
issues we have are recognized and met
proactively, not reactively, by our resident
committees and clubs, Community Asso-
ciation staff, our Board of Directors, our
developer, and the City of Georgetown.
The terms
potable water
and
non-potable
water
are used throughout this article;
thus, a definition and understanding of
these terms are necessary.
Potable wa-
ter
is the water we use in our homes to
drink, wash our clothes, flush our toilets
and the like. It is also the water we use
to irrigate our home lawns, trees and
plants.
Non-potable water
is the water
collected from our homes via the sewer
system, which is taken to a city-operated
waste water treatment facility (WWTF),
processed and made available to enti-
ties, like Sun City Texas, for irrigation
at a considerably lower cost than potable
water. Sun City Texas currently pays a
commercial (not residential) rate of $2.25
per 1,000 gallons for potable water and
$1.05 per 1,000 gallons for non-potable
water. Like our residential water rates,
the commercial water rates are expected
to increase in the very near future.
With those points defined, Sun City
Texas is addressing its water issues on
two fronts: one is residential irrigation,
and the other is irrigation of our com-
mon areas and golf courses. Each area
is discussed in the following sections.
RESIDENTIAL IRRIGATION
Our primary concern with residential
water use is that each of us uses be-
tween one-half to two-thirds of the po-
table water we purchase from the city for
irrigating our lawns, trees and plants.
The unfortunate distinction is that this
irrigation water, unlike the waste water
from our homes, is not reusable. Add to
this the fact that our Hill Country soil
conditions do not retain moisture well
and we are confronted with a highly in-
efficient water situation for maintain-
ing our lawns, trees and plants. These
conditions require each of us to wisely
and efficiently use water for irrigation
and to conserve this valuable resource.
The wise use of water around our homes
encompasses many things. It entails the
use of mulch, efficient and appropriate
sprinkler systems, drought-tolerant
plants, additional top soil to improve
moisture retention, lawn aeration, proper
settings on our sprinkler system timers,
and other water conservation ideas and
techniques. These points and others have
been and will continue to be the topic of
choice from the CA staff, Garden Club,
Water Ambassadors, and others in the
articles and information you see in the
Sun Rays
, email communications, pre-
sentations and other forms of commu-
nication. All of these actions are aimed
at giving each of us the information and
assistance we need to use our home ir-
rigation water as efficiently as possible.
There are no broad, sweeping solutions
to this situation; it can only be reme-
died with little changes from each of us.
What we do collectively is the only way
to make a positive impact on conserving
our drinking (potable) water supply.
COMMONAREAS &GOLF COURSES
Our goals for water use in these areas
are three-fold:
1. Eliminate Potable Water
Irrigation
The objective is to eliminate, or
reduce to the bare minimum, the
amount of potable water we use in
our common areas for irrigation.
The use of potable water for irriga-
tion of these areas, when we have a
practical non-potable water alter-
native, is wasteful and expensive.
Note that (1) our golf courses do not
use any potable water for irrigation,
CA NEWS
Sun City Texas Water Issues
By Steve Ricks
Continued on page 10
