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TEXAS / ZAPATA COUNTY

Zapata

Restricted
Zapata, Texas
Billy Hathorn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Population (2020)
5,383
Water cut
July 8, 2022
Cause
surface water
Where
26.91°N, 99.27°W

What happened, and when

Every dated water event the register holds for Zapata, newest first, each with the sources that document it.

  1. Restrictedon the card

    Restricted: what happened

    Falcon Lake, the sole raw-water source for Zapata County Waterworks, fell to about 10 percent of capacity in July 2022, leaving roughly a foot of water over some 30 feet of silt at the county intake. County Judge Joe Rathmell issued a drought disaster declaration on July 8, 2022, which Commissioners Court extended by 60 days, and with the lake below its 260-foot trigger the waterworks placed customers under Stage III mandatory restrictions: landscape watering on one assigned day a week in set hours, no fountains or washing of hard surfaces. The lake was back under Stage 3 in 2024 with about a day and a half of emergency storage.

    • Zapata County Commissioners Court: Commissioners Court minutes, July 25, 2022: order approving extension of the drought disaster declaration issued by the County Judge on July 8, 2022 (July 25, 2022)
    • Border Report: 'Dire situation': drought threatens Texas border county's lone water supply (July 29, 2022)