Fort Scott urges its citizens to conserve water
By Michael Glover
Herald-Tribune
Fort Scott, Kan. -- The city of Fort Scott has issued a "water watch," urging residents in Fort Scott and customers of Bourbon County Rural Water District No. 2 to conserve by limiting outdoor use of water.
Customers should avoid watering their lawns from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. to conserve water, according to a statement released this week by the city.
"We're just asking people to help us out ... and limit the water use outdoors to what's essential," Bailey said.
In order for the city to issue a water watch, one of the following triggers must be met: The city's water supply has fallen below 85 percent capacity or demand for five consecutive days is in excess of 2.8 million gallons per day.
The latter trigger, a high level of water usage, caused the city to issue the alert, Bailey said.
For seven consecutive days, the water plant has exceeded pumping 2.8 million gallons of water per day. Twelve out of the last 14 days, crews have run the water plant 24 hours a day, Bailey said.
"There's a large demand going on out of our system right now, not only in the city but also in the rural district as well," Bailey said.
The city commission passed a water conservation ordinance in 1993 to provide guidelines for declaring water supply emergency and conservation measures throughout the city in case there is an emergency.
Prolonged days of hot, dry weather have decreased water levels in area bodies of water. That, coupled with an increase in usage, sparked the watch. At least 50 percent of water consumed by households during summer months is used outdoors, according to the statement.
The city is currently pulling water out of Lake Fort Scott. Water is primarily taken from Marmaton River, but there is presently no "natural flow" in the river, Water Treatment Plant Supervisor Ron Price said.
When that occurs, workers draw water from Rock Creek Lake, which is currently around 12 inches below the normal level.
The next body of water to tap from is Lake Fort Scott, which about 6 inches down, city workers said.
A rain shower at around 4 a.m., Thursday, dumped about less than a quarter of an inch of rain in Fort Scott, not enough to reverse prolonged trends of consecutively hot and dry air that has battered the area in recent months.
"The ground absorbed most of that rainfall," Bailey said. "There was virtually no run-off that would help us out."
The rural water district purchases a majority of its water from the city, which is why it's involved in spreading the word about the watch.
Lifting the watch depends on Mother Nature and how much rain the area receives in the coming weeks and months, Bailey said.
If conditions deteriorate, the next step is to issue a water warning followed by a water emergency; nevertheless, Bailey said Fort Scott is nowhere near those stages at this point.