News

September 21, 2009

Every Drop Counts as Ashland, Ore., Rations Water Use

Officials of Ashland, Ore., are encouraging local restaurants to slash their water use to avoid stricter rationing of output from the city's depleted reservoir.

Businesses and residences there are already subject to penalty charges for exceeding the consumption limits that were imposed on all water users in late August. In that first phase of the city's four-step emergency savings program, restaurants and other businesses are allocated a set amount of water, starting at about 48,000 gallons per day for the lowest-volume users. If they exceed the allotment, they pay a surcharge on the excess of four times their usual rates.

If stage one fails to leave the city with enough drinking water and reserves for firefighting, the allocation would be dropped by around 25 percent, then another 33 percent, and finally an additional 50 percent—or roughly one-fourth what restaurants and other establishments are currently allowed.

The allocation program was enacted after Ashland officials asked every resident and business to cut their water consumption voluntarily by 20 percent within two weeks. City Hall said that appeal was heeded, but the replenishment of Reeder Reservoir, the town's source of water, had fallen by 25 percent, prompting further action.

The reservoir is fed by the run-off from melting snow in the nearby mountains. "I'm sure people remember that we had very little snowfall this past spring. Consequently the snow melt which feeds Reeder Reservoir is less than usual," according to Mike Faught, Ashland's director of public works. Other sources indicated the snowfall was off from prior year levels by about a third.

Ashland had not imposed rationing since 2001. Officials say the rains that normally hit the region in October could bring relief. In the meantime, they're directing restaurants not to provide customers with drinking water unless it's requested.

All places in the city have been notified not to use water for washing sidewalks or filling decorative fountains. Inhabitants also are being directed to fix plumbing leaks and avoid any waste in landscape irrigation. "The greatest use of water is outside irrigation," City Administrator Martha Bennett said in a statement.

Steve McCoid, president and CEO of the Oregon Restaurant Association, says Ashland's water problems "is an isolated issue. I am not aware of anywhere else in Oregon that is establishing mandatory water-conservation measures at this time. There is no drought in Oregon at this time."

But the summer has been a parched one for many other areas, particularly in California and Texas. More than 300 water districts in Texas, for instance, had imposed use restrictions as of the end of August 2009.