As Wichita’s drought continues, the city said this week that it will step up enforcement of water use restrictions — including the levying of fines when warranted — and may discuss prohibiting all outdoor watering in the future.
“All water customers are urged to continue to find ways to cut back on water usage,” a news release from the city stated. “Even though outdoor irrigation season is coming to a close, there are many ways to save water through small habit changes throughout the house. To date, 302 warning letters have been issued to water customers who have been reported to have been watering outside of their allotted outdoor watering day.”
Wichita has continued to see a decline in levels at Cheney Reservoir, which now sits less than 59% full overall and less than 67% of the 12-month average of the conservation pool. The city is now in its Stage 2 drought response, which limits most users to watering once a week. Stage 3 of the drought response will be discussed should water levels within Cheney’s conservation pool reach a 12-month average of below 50%. In stage 3 of the drought response plan, all outdoor watering for non-exempt customers is prohibited. This would include lawn and non-vegetable garden watering, private pool use and more.
Tuesdays typically see the biggest spike in water usage across the community. After seeing an initial drastic decline the first several weeks of drought restrictions, community water use is starting to inch back up. Before stage 2 restrictions, weekly highest water use was around 74 million gallons a day (MGD). The first week of restrictions, weekly highest water use was just over 55 MGD. Last week, the highest water usage was 64 MGD. During the last two months, efforts on education were prioritized over issuing fines. Going forward, staff plans to increase enforcement, including issuance of fines if warranted, while still continuing educational efforts on ways to cut back on water use.
More tips and information on Wichita’s drought response may be found here.
