This year’s historically hot and dry conditions are impacting Washington State’s stream flows. Precipitation in the state has only been half of normal to date and more than 80 percent of Washington’s rivers and streams are running at below normal or record low flows.
In order to manage water supplies, Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett have moved to the second stage of their water shortage response plans – voluntary reduction. Under voluntary reduction, customers are asked to help by reducing their water use by 10 percent.
Ways to reduce water use include:
- Let your lawn go dormant and limit plant watering to twice a week
- Water plants before 8:00an or after 7:00pm
- Reduce showering time
- Wash only full loads of laundry and dishes
- Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth or shaving
- Fix water leaks
All of Shoreline’s water is provided by Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) whether billed directly through SPU or through North City Water District. If conditions worsen, SPU may move to the mandatory phase of water shortage response and require customers to further reduce the amount of water they normally use each day.
More information:
- For more water saving tips, visit savingwater.org.
- For current water supply conditions and outlook, visit the Seattle Public Utilities website.
What about gardens? I've been watering my garden (it's a for food garden, not flowers) every other day. I've got a batch of the most amazing tomatoes I've ever seen, but they are still green. Is there any issue with watering the food gardens? I've let the rest of the lawn go.
ReplyDeleteThe City of Shoreline has not requested voluntary water reduction. It has no jurisdiction. Rather, the region's three regional providers of drinking water (Everett, Seattle, and Tacoma) have made this request of their customers. The City of Shoreline merely reported this news on their website (as has the North City Water District).
ReplyDeleteFrom Seattle Public Utilities' (SPU's) website:
"The three cities are working together to manage water supplies for people and fish during the drought and higher-than-normal water use. They are asking customers for their help by voluntarily reducing their water use by 10 percent starting today [August 11, 2015]."