Despite drought, Houston's water supply plentiful

06:32 PM CDT on Monday, June 27, 2005

By Mike Zientek / 11 News

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Rain fell in some areas of Houston Monday, but most people didn't see a drop. The dry spell has many Houstonians cranking up their sprinklers more than usual to save their lawns.

KHOU

The dry spell has many Houstonians cranking up their sprinklers more than usual to save their lawns.

David Lombardino has been busy trying to save his mother's very dry flowerbeds. We found him digging in the dirt and pulling weeds.

"It's kind of a sandy soil so it doesn't hold water very easily," said Lombardino.

Lombardino says he waters once a day and puts a slow drip hose on the trees, too. He's not sure about the gallon amount, but knows he uses a lot more water in the summer.

His mother's flowers need it.

"You've worked so hard to keep and maintain and if they go around and die, you're like, what's the point?" said Lombardino.

Plenty of people are dumping more water on dry front yards and wilting flowers these days.

A Public Works spokesperson tells us the highest amount used by Houstonians this year was 463 million gallons on Saturday. Since the system's capacity is 750 to 800 million gallons a day, he says we're nowhere close to a critical situation.

"The people who came before all of us here did some long range planning and got lots of sources of water for us and we're really proud of that," explained Wes Johnson with Houston Public Works.

However, some Harris County utilities are feeling the pinch and asking customers to cut back on water use wherever they can.

One northwest side municipal utility district is telling residents to conserve or pay higher rates.

As for David Lombardino, he's hoping for help from the clouds above.