City of Amarillo to run temporary pump at Greenways Lake as much as possible

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The excess water from storms will pump into McDonald lake that will be monitored.

The city began pumping rainwater from the playa this morning. Officials say pumps will have to be turned off during rainfall to prevent water overload.

“We can’t pump while it’s raining because they pump to a drainage pipe, system that’s designed to take water away from the neighborhoods and that pipe is essential while it’s raining,” said Floyd Hartman, assistant city manager of Amarillo.

The city says the excavation installation of a storm drain under Soncy, a few years ago, has helped reduce rising water.

“That was to alleviate the road from storm water on the west side to get it to the east side. But that also included an excavation which expanded the capacity of the lake. So things would be much worse had that excavation not occurred,” said Hartman.

The city says it’s a slow process, but plans to run the pumps as much as possible.

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