Water Restrictions

Murphy lifted restrictions on outdoor watering, and return to a more relaxed twice – per – week schedule if necessary. No watering after 10am or before 6pm, throughout the year. All other listed restrictions apply from the Water Conservation Plan. Determining your watering days will be left to each individual to choose their days.

See news release for more information.

Restrictions

Ordinance No. 11-10-897.

• No watering after 10am or before 6pm, throughout the year. All other listed restrictions apply from the Water Conservation Plan, and Stages 1 and 2 of the Plan.
• No hosing of paved areas, buildings or windows. (Pressure washing of impervious surfaces is allowed for health and safety, as needed).
• No washing or rinsing of vehicles by hose except with a hose end cutoff nozzle.
• No using water in such a manner as to allow runoff or other waste.
• Limit landscape watering with sprinklers or irrigation systems as each service address to twice a week, if needed.

Exceptions to the Above

• Foundations, new landscaping, new plantings (first year) of shrubs, and trees may be watered for up to 2 hours on any day by a hand-held hose, a soaker hose, or a dedicated zone using a drip irrigation system.
• Locations using other sources of water supply for irrigation may irrigate without restrictions(i.e. well water).
• Registered and properly functioning ET/Smart irrigation systems and drip irrigation systems may irrigate without restrictions.
• Landscape associated with new construction that may be watered as necessary for 30 days from the date of the certificate of occupancy, temporary certificate of occupancy, or certificate of completion. (Variance Permit Required from the city.)
• No hydro seeding, hydro mulching, and sprigging of any grass species.
• Existing swimming pools may not be drained and refilled (except to replace normal water loss).

Exceptions in Murphy

• A 30-day variance is available for new home / commercial construction landscapes.
• City of Murphy Municipal Complex (114 zones) and Community Center (30 stations) – it takes 2 days to water all zones one time. The city will be watering these locations on Thursdays and Fridays (cycle and soak process), if needed.
• Water well irrigation occurs at PISD and Central Park with no restrictions. This summer, city will water throughout day to establish the hydro-mulched turf.

Water My Yard Information

The Water My Yard Program (http://WaterMyYard.org) is designed to provide homeowner’s guidance on when and how much to water their lawns. Information is provided in the form of a weekly email that includes how much water is needed and an estimate of how long to run the sprinklers to achieve this amount of water. Sign-up is easy!

How can I check my meter to assure it is accurate and is reflected on my bill?

The City of Murphy uses an automated meter reading system to collect meter reads 4 times every day. Citizens can buy a meter key at a home improvement store and manually read the odometer on the meter and compare it to the electronic reads that the city collects and uses for billing. You can find these reads by registering at https://murptx.aquahawk.us. Historic reads are available and allow citizens to see consumption from previous weeks, months, seasons and years. You can also request your records from our staff at customerservice@murphytx.org

In general the system sends readings every six hours via WiFi and in the three years it has been used, we have found no inaccuracies between the odometer read and the electronic read. Additionally, by contract, city staff performs an annual quality control check on every meter. Last, we replaced almost all the water meters at the same time we installed the new AMR system and allow our citizens to request their water meter be tested against AWWA standards.

We continue to encourage residents who have concerns about their bills to contact us at 972-468-4100. Our Customer Service team will make every effort to individually verify meter readings and go over the usage data with each customer that contacts us.

In the meantime, we would like to share some information about sprinkler use, swimming pools, and other watering tips that are proving to be helpful in the course of addressing concerns shared by residents regarding their water usage:

How much water does my sprinkler system use?

To calculate sprinkler usage, average of 20 gallons per minute per sprinkler head, multiplied by the number of sprinkler heads, multiplied by the number of stations. Multiply that number by the number of times your water in a week or month. Example:

• 20 minutes x 20 gallons per minute = 400 gallons for one sprinkler head
• 400 gallons x 5 sprinkler heads in a station/zone =2,000 gallons used per station/zone
• 2,000 gallons x 6 stations = 12,000 gallons used for one watering
• 12,000 gallons x 3 days per week = 36,000 for one week of watering
• 36,000 gallons x 4 weeks = 144,000 gallons used to water the lawn in a 4-week cycle

Another way to see how much water your irrigation system is using:

Open your meter box lid and take a picture of the dial prior to starting irrigation. Once your cycles have completed, take another picture of the dial. Subtract the numbers on the white dials from your pictures. This will give you a good idea of how much water is going through your irrigation system for one watering.

How much water does my pool use to refill from evaporating?

The average amount of water evaporation per day is 1/2-inch. Multiplied by 7 days, that’s 3.5 inches of water evaporated in a week. To refill the pool 3.5 inches, use this calculation:

Length x Width x Depth (3.5 inches evaporation loss divided by 12) x 7.48 = number of gallons to refill from evaporation. Example: 13 x 32 x .292 x 7.48 = 908 gallons to refill per week, or 3,632 gallons per month.

The Do’s and Don’ts for watering your yard

• DO: Water in dry weather.
• DO: Water early in the morning.
• DO: Water every 5-6 days in hot weather.
• DO: Use sprinklers that are close to the ground rather than high in the air, because larger drops are better than fine mist.
• DON’T: Water from mid-morning to late afternoon. You will lose 1/3 of your water to evaporation. Try watering before 10 a.m.
• DON’T: Overwater because it causes valuable nutrients to wash away.
• DON’T: Water too frequently because it causes shallow root system to develop.
• DON’T: Water at night because the grass stays wet and encourages the development of disease.

If I have a leak, how much water is being wasted?

Water wasted at 40 pounds of pressure over a 24-hour period:
• 1/32″ leak wastes 180 gallons
• 1/16″ leak wastes 690 gallons
• 1/8″ leak wastes 2,760 gallons
• 1/4″ leak wastes 11,030 gallons