Drought may force tougher crackdown: Mandatory limits have made big cuts in water use, but district says more is needed.

Byline: Roy Appleton

Sep. 6--Is it the threat of tickets or the slap of fines? The otherworldly sight of Lake Lavon's dry, cracked, stumpy bed? The fear of water rationing or simply the realization that this drought is indeed extraordinary?

Whatever the reasons, North Texas Municipal Water District officials say they are impressed with how residents in more than 27 suburban cities have reduced water consumption in three months of mandatory cutbacks.

But despite recent rains, the district's water supply for 1.5 million people remains severely stressed.

And new measures, including a ban on landscape plantings and stiffer enforcement of existing conservation rules, could be imposed by next month, district officials say.

"We think that's probably where we need to be going," said Mike Rickman, the water district's executive assistant.

Where he and his boss, Jim Parks, don't want to go is Stage 4 of the district's drought contingency plan, a move that they say would include water rationing.