WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Starting Monday, Aug. 5, Wichita residents may only water their lawns one day a week because the City of Wichita has entered Stage 2 of its drought response plan.
All outdoor non-crucial watering for all water users is restricted to once a week. That includes flower gardens. People northwest of Central and Broadway can water on Mondays, northeast on Tuesdays, southwest on Wednesdays, and southeast on Thursdays. Watering is limited to before 10 a.m. and after 8 p.m.
The watering restrictions apply to commercial users and Wichita’s wholesale customers: the cities of Derby, Valley Center, Rose Hill, Park City, Kechi, Bel Aire, Bentley, Benton and Rural Water Districts 1, 3 and 5.
How much water does a lawn need to survive?
To determine if watering is non-crucial or crucial, the city said crucial means keeping someone alive or an important economic factor for a business.
People who use well water are exempt from the restrictions but are encouraged to conserve as much as possible. They should post a sign letting people know they have a well. Click here for a PDF of the sign.
Why Stage 2?
The city says it tried to avoid Stage 2 water restrictions, but people have not reduced water use as much as the city hoped. Plus, the extreme heat is not helping the cause.
Stage 2 is determined by the conservation pool at Cheney Lake.
City Manager Rober Layton said that since June 1, the Cheney conservation pool dropped from just over 68% to 62%.
“I think we’ve actually dropped below that the last two days,” he said. “That is through water usage as well as evaporation from the heat we’ve had. As you can see, it’s a very dramatic drop in terms of our water levels at Cheney, and that really necessitated or led to the action we’re taking today.”
Layton said Stage 2 will last for two months until the irrigation season is over. The city hopes to reduce water use by 10% and will reevaluate at the end of the two months.
“We must all come together to change our lawn care practices in order to preserve our most precious resource, and that is drinking water in this community,” he said. “We’re probably going to have to get used to brown lawns in order to make sure we have safe drinking water for all of our residents.”
Enforcement
Wichita Public Works staff will review customer accounts to determine whether customers are using excessive amounts of water. If so, those customers will receive a warning letter.
If high water use continues after the warning, the customer will be levied a $50 penalty the next time they exceed their average winter consumption and a $100 penalty for each subsequent violation.
Residents who want to report suspected overwatering may use the Wichita Report app or call the call center at 316-942-4482.
The city had been considering charging residents more based on a Tier 1, 2 and 3 plan, but Layton said that would have taken too long to implement.
“If we went to a change in our tier billing, we probably wouldn’t get that implemented until September, so we would have missed all of August and, based on that chart, you can imagine where we would be with Cheney levels if we had waited another 30 days,” he said.
Exemptions
The city code for Stage 2 shows there are some exemptions from the watering restriction:
Food-producing gardens utilizing drip irrigation or hand watering
Businesses that generate their core economic activity from outdoor water use, such as:
Golf courses,
Car washes that have recycled water facilities built into their operations,
Nurseries, and
Sod suppliers.
Swimming pools and other water usage
The city is cutting its swimming pool season short. The regular season will end in two weeks.
“Normally, we would go on weekends through Labor Day, but unfortunately, a significant amount of water is lost during that weekday period through evaporation, so we don’t think it was prudent on our part to be able to continue to operate the pools through Labor Day,” Layton said.
The city says people with personal pools could also voluntarily close early for the same reason.
Layton asks every household and business to reduce daily water use by 10% in addition to the outdoor restrictions. Suggestions include waiting until the washing machine and dishwasher are full before running them.
Visit SaveWichitaWater.com to get more water conservation tips. The city also offers rebates to people who buy water-saving devices. Click here to learn more.
He said the city is doing its part by turning off city fountains, planting drought-resistant grasses on golf courses, using gray water to water trees, mowing at a higher level, and installing artificial turf, like at the splash pads.
What’s next? Stage 3?
Layton believes this is the first time Wichita has reached Stage 2. He said it came close in 2013, so the city created the drought response plan.
The next level, Stage 3, is triggered when the 12-month moving average of Cheney’s conservation pool hits 50%.
“Based on current conditions, based on what’s happening with a lack of precipitation, right now, we’re estimating that we could enter Stage 3 as early as September of next year,” Gary Janzen, Wichita Public Works director, said.
Stage 3 would ban all outdoor water use. There would be exemptions for some businesses.
“We’re not projecting we’ll get to Stage 3,” Layton said. “If nothing changes, that could get us to Stage 3. These restrictions and our plea for everyone to reduce their use by 10%, that hopefully will get us where we don’t have to move into Stage 3.”
He said the scenario will change in April when the new water plant comes into play.
“We won’t have to rely as much on Cheney,” Layton said. “We still like to be careful in terms of the Cheney levels because it’s still a very important water source to us, but we will have other options, groundwater options, that will allow us a little more relief.”
Learn more
The city has created a website, SaveWichitaWater.com, where people can find more information about drought and water conservation.
Click here to read Wichita’s city code about the drought response plan.
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