Creighton residents are being asked to watch how much water they use.
The Town of Creighton has issued a request for residents to regulate water usage for a number of tasks, including watering lawns and gardens.
According to town officials, there is no danger of the town having a water shortage – the request is for more precautionary reasons, due to a spike in water use because of recent hot weather. Creighton’s booster station, where water is pressurized before transit throughout the town, entered an emergency condition due to high water use during the May long weekend.
“The reason why we had to do that was because of the hot long weekend. So many people were watering their lawns that it put our system on fire mode,” said Paula Muench, chief administrative officer for the Town of Creighton, during the May 23 town council meeting.
“We just want to make sure we have enough water to fight a fire, if needed.”
Under the new rules, homes and properties ending with even street numbers will be permitted to water on even-numbered days on the calendar. Odd-numbered properties can water on odd-numbered days.
During the permitted days, watering is allowed only during the hours of 5 am and 8 am and between 7 pm and midnight.
“We would like people to be a little more cautious and conserve. I think what we have found is that, when people are watering in the middle of the day, quite a bit of it evaporates,” said Muench.
Lawns that have been newly sodded or seeded are exempt from the new rule.
It is not yet known if the measure will be temporary or if it will last throughout the summer.
“It’s just during the really hot time. We’re seeing a lot of it coming up. We’re looking at trying to preserve our water and be prepared,” said Muench.
“This is something the community should have anyway, whether it’s hot or not,” added Coun. Colleen Stallard.
“All the other communities are doing this. We need to be proactive. This should be something that is regularly enforced.”
