Tuesday, July 30, 1996

Bone-dry town gets relief with pipeline

By CHARLES RICHARDS
Associated Press

WORTHAM - As good as Mayor Frederick Covert felt Monday, imagine his excitement when he doesn't have to haul his laundry eight miles to the next town anymore.

Water began pouring Monday morning into almost-empty Wortham Lake, three miles east of town, where a pipeline was pumping water from Navarro Mills Lake, 15 miles west of Corsicana.
"It's looking great," the mayor said.

Like towns all over Texas, Wortham has been impacted severely by the drought. Despite some recent downpours, annual rainfall is down almost everywhere across the state.

But Wortham, a town of 1,200 some 60 miles south of Dallas, has been hit harder than most; it was down to a week's supply of drinking water before Chevron Oil came to the rescue.

Chevron made an unused pipeline available to pump the water from Corsicana.

A larger pump installed Monday will move water at the rate of four million gallons per day until 60 million gallons - a year's supply for the town - has been moved into Wortham Lake.

At that rate, it would take about 15 days to supply the city's lake with enough water for residents' needs.

The state approved the operation since the pipeline hadn't been used for petroleum products in two years.

Corsicana owns rights to the water but said it could spare 60 million gallons for Wortham, which will pay $1 per 1,000 gallons, or a total of $60,000.

"We will continue day and night, seven days a week, until we get 60 million gallons," Covert said.
That should take the pressure off while Wortham completes drilling of four wells south of town to supplement its water supply. Several good rains also would be appreciated.

Because of the shortage, the City Council imposed harsh restrictions on water consumption last month, and Covert said the town would have had to truck in water if Chevron hadn't offered the pipeline.

"We would be hauling water in 8,000-gallon tankers - 20 a day," he said. "We would bankrupt the city in 30 days. It would take every penny the city has."

Wortham's residents will remain under severe restraints on water use for some time yet, Covert said.

"No outside watering of any kind is allowed, absolutely not for any reason," the mayor said.
What happens to lawns?

"They just die. My lawn has died," Covert said.

"If you see a green lawn in Wortham, one of two things is happening. They are either cheating at night, or they have a well," he said.

Before Wortham got a water distribution system, many residents had their own wells, and some are still operative. For cheaters with green lawns but no wells, the fine is $200. Nobody has been cited in the month since the ordinance went into effect.

The ordinance also puts a surcharge on residential water use beyond 10,000 gallons.

"If a household uses more than 10,000 gallons through their meter in a month, every 100 gallons over that will carry a $10 charge. That's pretty heavy," Covert said.

"Sure, it's tough, but people are doing all sorts of things to conserve water. My wife takes our laundry to the next town south of us, to Mexia, eight miles away," the mayor said.

"We use the dishwasher once a week. We will absolutely not use it more than once a week regardless. We buy paper plates, and our menu is planned so we don't use so many pots and pans."
Covert said he's also recycling water.

"Any water that goes down the kitchen sink is caught in a plastic pan below. We use that to water the shrubs outside or to flush the commode if necessary."

Some Wortham residents are showering only every other day. Even then, they plug their tubs so the water can be used later in flower beds.

"It's difficult, yes, and it is a different way of life and it takes a little doing, but it's possible. People are cooperating, and there really have been few complaints," the mayor said.

John Baker, commissioner of the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission, applauded the town's work to conserve precious water.

"The state of Texas can provide a wealth of technical expertise and help expedite innovation approaches, but there is no substitute for local initiative," Baker said.