City Council Approves New Water Restrictions in Washington

Airway Heights City Council, Cheney, Wash., is taking steps to avoid water loss through lawn irrigation by adopting new restrictions prohibiting watering between the hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through the months of June to September.

A resolution was passed on Sept. 15 to implement these new measures, which shall apply to any property receiving the city’s water, public works director Bryan St. Claire explained. This includes residential, commercial and industrial properties, with exemptions for new plantings, new landscaping and/or lawns.
The city of Medical Lake has a similar ordinance that’s been in effect since 2006, and St. Claire said it’s a conservation measure “more and more cities are enacting.”

Water conservation is an issue statewide, and something the state will soon be regulating a lot more strictly, St. Claire said. In May, the city approved water use efficiency standards mandated by the state Department of Health designed to reduce distribution system loses and consupmption for the next two to six years.
“[Conservation] has been in the background for the last 20 or so years, and it’s just now coming to the forefront. Really, it’s about protecting the resource,” St. Clair said.

“The intent is not to become the water police,” he added, but to educate the public more on how they can better use water. People manually watering brown spots on lawns, or children using sprinklers for play are not the problem; it’s evaporation, like when sprinklers are run to the point of excess because people don’t watch them.

Prior to approving the resolution, council requested public works produce some numbers indicating the amount of savings these restrictions could have for the city, which St. Claire agreed would be helpful in educating citizens.

At the recommendation of city attorney Nathan Smith, council agreed to draft a policy explaining how customers may show proof of new plantings to get exemptions through city hall.

Unanimously approved, the resolution, Councilwoman Sharon Lawrence said, is “a first step in helping the city meet the numbers for conservation as required by the state.”

“This is a logical step, and one that is hopefully well-received,” Mayor Matthew Pederson said.