Severe drought conditions have returned to Texas and forecasters are predicting that dry conditions may persist or worsen for the state. We have received letters from both the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) about the drought and instructing all water districts to enforce their Drought Contingency Plans. Cypress Ranch WCID No. 1 is currently in Stage II of their Drought Contingency Plan. Click to see details of watering days.

Personal emergency preparedness is comprised of anticipation, awareness, and planning. It is made up of monitoring of a possible disaster situation via television, electronic information, District communication, and State communication.

Video on Firewise Presented at Last Board of Directors Meeting, click above.

WHO: Cypress Ranch WCID No. 1 is hiring Landscape Business Services to provide a late summer brush shredding and pick-up event for the residents of West Cypress Hills. WHY: Cypress Ranch WCID No. 1 is working on reducing the risk of fire spreading by encouraging residents to make a 30-ft. fire break between their homes and any brush. Trimming limbs of trees 6'-8' above the ground is also recommended. Residents may clear up to 50 ft. of greenbelt area behind their homes. The goal is to reduce brush and to limb up trees in order to “buy time” for the fire department to set up and extinguish fires that may occur in greenbelts.

The sub-committee for water rates will model some scenarios and present in the next board meeting. The general view is that 20k gallons is where we need to see usage peak, and I believe most households will continue to naturally fall into this category. The structure proposed below includes a 1,300% increase in rate at usage above 20k gallons. Usage beyond 30k would continue to be prohibitively expensive as it is today. We could look at an additional tier at 25k gallons as well to further incentivize a phase out of higher usage. -RKK

I do not disagree with this, but will need to see this on a spreadsheet. I think the cap amount of water to be used should be 20,000 gallons a month per household- we do not want to run out of water in the summer months. Above that usage is risky. I think we need to look at the data for summer months and make those tiered costs align with what is responsible usage. We are going into a drought and will always be struggling with those conditions.

As we consider our water rate structure I thought it would be helpful to outline a few ideas/theories that might underpin the structure we proceed with. 1. Our annual budget requirements are well understood. We require about $670k to cover our expenses. This is comprised of generally fixed costs, not being strongly tied to the amount of water produced. As such, I believe this cost should be born equally among the customers of the district. The way to achieve this equitable sharing of the fixed burden is to update the base fee paid by each household. Increasing the base fee to roughly $62 for in-district customers and $182 for out-of-district customers gets close to covering our fixed costs. 2. Our monthly water supply is finite and we must encourage customers to conserve. In reality we must price the rate tiers as to inhibit excess usage, which our supply can't keep up with. It's possible to adopt a fee schedule as follow: 0-20K gallons - $1/1000 gallons; 20-30k gallons - $14/1000 gallons; 30-40k gallons - $64/1000 gallons; 40k+ Gallons - $70/1000 gallons. This rate structure will do 2 things: 1. Shares the fixed burden equitably across each household 2. Provides strong incentive to cap usage between 20-30k gallons. The impact of this on monthly bills: Low water usage months would see an increase in water bills by about $20. High water usage months would see a decrease in water bills varying by amount. The average household that uses 15,000 gallons in a month would see a bill $1 higher than today's rates. Theoretically this would average what are today's higher bill across the year. Households with consistent low usage will continue to enjoy low bills, but they would now be carrying their fair share of the operating burden. These are just thoughts put to paper, the numbers can be modeled and fine-tuned but the approach of equal sharing of the fixed costs and inhibiting extreme usage creates a more equitable fee structure. Thoughts and feedback are welcome and encouraged.

Directors- should we post on the neighborhood social media pages about the new pass-thru fees from the water conservation district?

A top down view of WCH's WWTP.

We need your help! Sanitary wipes, “baby wipes”, and wipes of all types, including “Flushable” or Biodegradable” are clogging the wastewater pumps, lines, and the damaging operation of wastewater plant itself. Please dispose of them in the trash and do not flush them down the toilet.

Notice is hereby given that on October 15, 2020, the Board of Directors of Cypress Ranch Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 (the “District”) approved an amendment to the Rules and Regulations (the “Rules”) of the District. The amendment revises rates, fees, deposits, and penalties for services provided by the District and imposes a $200 access charge for unauthorized withdrawals of water from fire hydrants, Notice is further given that on October 15, 2020, the Board of Directors of the District approved an Order Establishing Rules Governing District Trails, Greenbelts, and Other Land Owned by the District (the “Order”). The Board of Directors of the District established a civil penalty for a violation of the rules set forth in this Order in an amount not to exceed $2,000.00, with each day of a violation constituting a separate offense. Click on News Item Title above for more details.

Public Hearing on the Proposed 2016 Tax Rate. Open to the public. Held at Texas Engineering Solutions, LLC, Barton Creek Plaza, Building III, 3815 S. Capital of Texas Hwy., Suite 300, Austin, Texas 78704 on Thursday September 22, 2016 at noon.