Published: September 06, 2007 09:16 am      

Decreasing water use

County, city ask for voluntary conservation

A voluntary water conservation notice for county residents was announced Wednesday by Madison Judge-Executive Kent Clark.

Residents are being asked to decrease their use of water for all non-essential purposes that includes non-commercial watering of gardens and lawns, washing vehicles, driveways, sidewalks, etc.

Potable water uses in Madison County are near record high levels and if this usage continues, mandatory conservation efforts may be necessary, according to the notice sent out Wednesday.

The Kentucky Division of Water has reduced the amount of water Madison County is allowed to withdrawal, according to Clark’s statement.

“The best things to do would be to cut down the amount of outside watering,” said Becky Turpin, office manager at Madison County Utilities. “Cut down on watering plants, maybe not worry about topping-off swimming pools, washing vehicles and maybe even cut back on the length of time you spend in the shower.”

“We need a good, significant, soaking rainfall,” she said. “The county buys (water) from the city.”

Therefore, whenever the county goes on a voluntary water restriction, so must the city, she said.

Richmond Utilities customers will receive a notice about a voluntary water restriction on their next water bill, which was recently decided at a Richmond Utilities board meeting.

A public notice was issued to local media Wednesday about the city’s voluntary water conservation.

“These measures are necessary to decrease production demand from the river,” said Richmond Mayor Connie Lawson. “We are asking all residents of the city of Richmond to conserve water as much as possible to help ease the present condition.

The pool Richmond Utilities pulls its water from at the Kentucky River has maintained an adequate level, until recently, Althauser said. At the beginning of August, the discharge of water to the dam was flowing at 2,000 cubic feet per second, an average level, Althauser said. Today, the discharge level was flowing at 108 cubic feet per second.

A new water plant in the College Hill Road area will help treat more water when it is completed soon, but work to reach the 12-million-gallon treatment goal still is under way. While the new plant will bring no help this season, if drought conditions become a problem next summer, the city will be better prepared, he said.

A voluntary water restriction was called for Aug. 23 by those at Berea Municipal Utilities.

The utilities company is asking residents to cut their water usage by at least 10 percent and it is being suggested that lawns and flower gardens only be watered from 6 to 8 a.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. to prevent water loss from evaporation, said Donald Blackburn, manager of Berea Municipal Utilities.

The 9,000 residents who are customers of the Berea Municipal Utilities are being asked to cut back on washing vehicles, watering lawns, gardens, flowers, parks, playing fields or other recreational areas.

The water pumps at Berea Municipal Utilities were running about 18 hours a day when the voluntary restriction was announced. The average time for pumping is about 14 to 15 hours in regular conditions.

There is a 30 percent chance of isolated thunderstorms tonight, according to information from The Weather Channel at www.weather.com.

More sporadic thunderstorms are being predicted for Sept. 10-11 (30 percent chance), Sept. 12 (40 percent chance) and Sept. 14 (60 percent chance).

Call Madison County Utilities at 624-1735 for more information about the county’s voluntary water restrictions. Call Richmond Utilities at 623-2323 for more information about the city’s restrictions.

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