City of Spokane strongly encouraging water users to reduce usage

June 24, 2021 3:27 PM

Vincent Saglimbeni,

Posted: June 24, 2021 3:27 PM

Updated: June 24, 2021 8:50 PM

by Vincent Saglimbeni

SPOKANE, Wash.— As temperatures begin to rise nationally and locally, the City of Spokane is asking water users to follow summer conservation guidance that was distributed in May.

Rising temperatures over the next few days will add additional strain to the city’s water system, which provides both drinking water and irrigation to households in Spokane.

“We need the community’s help with extending our supply of chlorine to give the supply chain time to catch up,” Mayor Nadine Woodward said. “At this time, the City has an adequate short-term supply, but any further delay and overwatering could impact our system. Adopting the every other day watering schedule can make a significant difference.”

City Water users are encouraged to do the following:

1. Adopt an every-other-day, “odd/even” watering schedule in efforts to preserve and protect water resources. The City’s Parks Departments will show how this method can be effective this summer.
2. Water your landscaping between 6 p.m. and 10 a.m as numbers show than an estimated 50% of water used for landscaping evaporates when sprinkling during the hottest points of the day. Morning watering is the recommended method, and no more than 15 minutes of watering for each section or two hours of total area is also suggested by the City.
3. Don’t let your hose run, and in particular, avoid washing off driveways or other hard surfaces such as cars. Studies show that running a ⅝-inch hose for 30 minutes can waste up to 150 gallons of water.
4. Don’t water on windy days, and turn your sprinklers off when it rains.

The City of Spokane approved rate changes for water usage last month, rewarding those with lower water rate usage and encouraging customers to use less than 18,700 gallons of water a month.

A new water calculator was created by the City to let customers follow along with the changes and its impact on each customer. The calculator looks at the old history of water usage with customers and calculates the differences under new rates.