Published: June 02, 2007 11:47 pm      

Despite dry weather, no water restrictions

Water pumps at Richmond Utilities are working around the clock to serve the city, but whether or not a water restriction is called for lies in the hands of Mother Nature.

“We’re in good shape right now, but if it keeps this up for another week, (a water restriction) could happen,” said Scott Althauser, superintendent of Richmond Utilities.

Richmond last water restriction was June 25 to July 24, 2005. Residents were asked to conserve water in any way possible and flower, garden and grass watering were restricted to certain days only.

Although the city’s water use is not restricted at the present, Althauser said he always encourages residents to conserve water and use it wisely.

The water pumps at the utilities company are pumping 24 hours a day. With sufficient rainfall, the pumps operate an average of 15 or 16 hours each day.

“We’re selling about everything we’re making right now,” Althauser said.

A supplemental pump was activated three days ago and has helped the utilities company produce an extra 800,000 gallons of water each day, Althauser said.

An expansion to the city’s water plant will be completed in about one month, he said.

The drinking water treatment plant, located on College Hill Road in Waco, will go from treating 9 million gallons of water a day to 12 million gallons. The last expansion of the treatment plan was in 1990.

The expansion is the utility company’s way of preparing for the future and Madison County’s increasing population, Althauser said.

Based on statewide statistics, Kentucky’s precipitation shortfall range is 6 to 9 inches in the south to 2 to 4 inches in the west.

The lack of rain has curtailed hay production and prompted water conservation measures in some areas. The dry spell follows a freeze in early April that inflicted at least $70 million in crop losses statewide, hitting winter wheat, peach and apple crops the hardest.

Thirty-five percent of the state’s hay crop was rated poor or very poor, according to the latest weekly report by the National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Kentucky field office.

Row crops planted in the spring are faring better. Nearly three-quarters of the state’s corn and soybean crops were rated good or excellent, the report said. Just more than half the tobacco crop was in good shape.

The Weather Channel is calling for a 40 percent chance of rain tonight and a 30 percent chance on Monday, but Tuesday through Friday show only a 10 percent chance of precipitation.

Predicted weekend precipitation won’t be enough to “wipe out the drought in one fell swoop, but maybe it will prevent conditions from getting worse,” said Mike Callahan, a National Weather Service hydrologist.

“We would give anything for a couple good days of soaking rain,” Althauser said. “We’re not calling for any voluntary or mandatory restriction at this point, but any kind of conservation is a good thing.”

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.