The water ticketing has begun.

Community Development code enforcers issued citations to nine people Tuesday to people who had previously violated the drought contingency plan, the water nuisance law, or both, at least two times. Code enforcers will issue five more tomorrow morning to repeat offenders, Community Development Director Merita Sandoval said.

This is the first day citations were issued. First citations will cost $200 each, the next one will cost $300 and the third ticket fine is $500, Sandoval said.

The mandatory water restrictions are designed to reduce water usage by 10 percent because of a prolonged drought and low lake levels. The Colorado River Municipal Water District is a wholesale raw-water provider to Odessa and other cities.

WATER NUISANCE:

Violations include failing to repair a controllable leak, using sprinklers with broken heads, allowing sprinklers to spray over a parking lot or street and watering foliage so that water runs 50 feet down a street, alley or into an intersection.

Violators could be cited with a misdemeanor offense and up to a $500 fine.

Since April 1, when the water restrictions and water nuisance law approved by the city council went into effect, Odessa code enforcers have issued 340 notices of violation. April was considered to be an educational month, with stepped enforcement starting in May.

Despite the water restrictions, Odessa’s water usage trend has kept rising upward. The city exceeded its water limit set by the CRMWD 14 times in May. Some days Odessa exceeded the limit by less than 1 million gallons, while the city went over the limit by about 5 million gallons on others. But nine of the 14 days Odessa exceeded its total were in the second half of the month, including a stretch from May 22 to May 26 where the total was surpassed every day. Odessa has already exceeded the daily usage limit at least twice in June. Odessa has used 123 million gallons more this May than this time last year.

The CRMWD board is set to meet at 9 a.m. this morning in Big Spring to discuss requesting additional water conservation from its three member cities and nine municipal customers. Odessa, Synder and Big Spring are the member cities and each has four members on the board.

City officials are also expected to discuss the recent upward water usage trend at the briefing before the city council meeting on June 14.

@OAgovernment