With another dry summer expected, the City of Scottsbluff is asking people to begin to voluntary conserve their water usage.
At the moment, the city has an ample supply of drinking and irrigation water in its wells.
However, City Manager Rick Kuckkahn wants to let the Natural Resource District take care of the agricultural side of things before the city imposes any water restrictions.
"There's some tradeoff between the utility making money and people using water," says Kuckkahn. "But I would rather have it be conserved than simply support our budget by having people over consume."
The city has issued a list of tips to help people conserve water.
INDOOR CONSERVATION TIPS
Bathing
Each shower or bath can require up to 50 gallons of water. If you have a low flow shower head, this will help reduce the amount of water used during a shower.
- · Reduce the amount of time you spend in the shower.
- · When applying soap, turn the water off.
- · Be aware of how much water you use when taking a bath and try to reduce that amount as much as possible.
Flushing
Every time you flush up to 7 gallons of water are used. Those who have installed water -efficient toilets use less water with each flush and eliminate waste. No matter what kind of toilet you have each of us can do the following:
- ·Avoid using the toilet for a wastebasket.
- ·Test your toilet for leaks. This can be done by adding several drops of food coloring to the toilet tank. If there is a leak, the food coloring will appear in the toilet without flushing it.
Laundry
- ·Make sure the selection for the amount of water each load will use matches the load size.
- ·Try to wash only full loads of laundry.
Brushing of Teeth
- · Don't leave the water running while brushing your teeth, turn the faucet off.
Cooking and Cleaning
- ·Defrost food by leaving it in the refrigerator for a period of time or by using a microwave oven.
Don't use running water.
- ·When running hot water to reach temperature, collect it in a pitcher for use in juices, watering of indoor plants or for placing in the refrigerator for a cold drink later.
Remember that if you have a water softener, the hot water side is often softened water.
- ·When washing dishes in the sink, don't leave the rinse water running. Rather, use both sides of your sink. Fill one side with soap and water for washing, and the other side with rinse water.
- ·Only run the dishwasher when you have a full load of dishes instead of using it to wash several small loads.
OUTDOOR CONSERVATION TIPS
Lawn and Garden Watering
–The largest and most effective summer conservation effort is lawn watering.
Citizens can waste water if they are watering at the wrong time of day, or too often. In fact, watering can do more damage during the daylight. As the sun heats your lawn, if water is in the soil the head is carried to the roots and can damage your grass. The most effective watering time is in the early morning hours between 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. The water pressure is at its highest, disruption of the water pattern from wind is low, and water lost to the atmosphere by evaporation is negligible. Morning also has the advantage of reducing the chance of turf diseases that thrive on extended periods of leaf moisture. If watering in the morning isn't possible, evening hours are okay. Here are some tips to keep in mind this summer:
- ·Minimize evaporation by watering during the early morning hours.
- ·Use 1 to 1 ½ inches of water per week from irrigation or rainfall. This will still allow your lawn to remain green and actively growing.
- ·Mow grass as tall and as frequently as possible with a properly sharpened blade to produce a dense cover and deep root system. Taller grass has a deeper root system that draws moisture from a larger volume of soil and in turn results in less need for irrigation.
- ·Try to keep grass height above 2 ½ inches after mowing. Mow frequently enough so that clippings are 1 to 1 ½ inches long. Raise the mower height if grass has grown too tall since the previous mowing.
A lawn mowed at heights of 3 to 3 ½ inches will have a better chance of surviving prolonged drought and water restrictions.
- ·Most homeowners mow lawns once a week regardless of the mowing height. Taller mowing heights are less likely to cause turf scalping, especially when grass leaves are rapidly growing in the spring.
Dull mower blades and scalped turf result in an unattractive lawn that too many homeowners try to correct with over-irrigation.
If you have questions or would like more information about water conservation, please contact Jack Satur, Water System Supervisor at 308-630-6258
