City of LG Enacts Phase II of Drought Contingency Plan
The City of La Grange has enacted Phase Two of the Drought Contingency Plan effective Aug. 17. The triggering criteria which has initiated this action is the current dry weather conditions. Normally, water production capacity is 1,600,000 gallons per day. The triggering criteria for mandatory water conservation is 90% of the production capacity or 1,125,000 gallons per day.
The City of La Grange currently has two wells that are out of service and will be down for some time. The daily water usage for the past seven days has averaged 1,002,143 gallons per day. With two wells out of service, the City can’t keep up with the demand.
Phase One of the Drought Contingency Plan was enacted back in July of this year. Phase One is defined as a “Mild” drought condition. Although restrictions in Phase One are all voluntary, consumption continues to increase. Enacting Phase Two is an effort to curve water consumption. Phase Two is defined as a “Moderate” drought condition. Actions/restrictions under this condition are all mandatory and the City stresses their importance and highly encourages all La Grange Utilities water customers to participate by complying to the following guidelines:
Car washing, window washing and pavement washing are prohibited except when a bucket is used.
There shall be no street washing, water hydrant flushing, filling of swimming pools, athletic field watering or recreational use of faucets, hoses and hydrants unless essential to public health or safety.
The following mandatory lawn watering schedule shall be implemented: customers with even numbered street addresses may water on even numbered days of the month and customers with odd numbered street addresses on odd days of the month. Watering shall occur only between the hours of 6-10 a.m. and 8-10 p.m.
Waste of water shall be prohibited. Water waste is defined as permitting water from landscape irrigation to escape into gutters, ditches, streets, sidewalks and other surface drains; failure to promptly repair a controllable leak due to defective plumbing after it is discovered; and other obviously wasteful uses.
The City of La Grange is in Phase Two-Moderate Drought Conditions at this time and if we all work together; we can avoid going to the next phase which is defined as “Severe” under which all outdoor water use would be banned and fines would be set for violations. The City of La Grange appreciates everyone for their attention to this matter.