It’s been 23 years since this region of Washington has implemented mandatory water curtailment — and City of Redmond officials hope it doesn’t happen again.

However, with the drought that’s clutched the state in recent months, Redmond has reached the voluntary curtailment stage. By following the lead of Cascade Water Alliance, Seattle Public Utilities, Tacoma Water and the City of Everett, Redmond is asking residents and businesses to reduce their water usage by 10 percent.

Late last month, the city informed residents that it and all the above parties were following an advisory plan, the first phase of a water shortage response that notes to use water wisely and don’t waste.

On Aug. 11, the voluntary plan — the second phase — went into effect; the third and fourth phases are mandatory and emergency, the latter of which has never happened in Washington, according to Linda DeBoldt, the City of Redmond’s Public Works director.

“We’re in this period right now during the remainder of the summer and into the fall where there is enough water in the region,” DeBoldt said. “However, the concern is that if the hot dry conditions remain into the fall, and the level of water usage also stays at a higher level that it has been historically, the concern is that the amount of water in the reservoirs would not be enough.”

Redmond receives its water from the Tolt River Watershed east of Carnation and the Cedar River Watershed near North Bend, both of which are managed by Seattle Public Utilities. Most of Redmond’s water is streamed from Tolt, but Cedar River water can be diverted to the city if needed.

VOLUNTARY STAGE

DeBoldt said that Redmond closely coordinates with the above agencies about what steps to take during a drought.

Chuck Clarke, Cascade CEO, said on the organization’s website: “This is the time for all neighbors, businesses and communities to take these important actions to save water for people and fish as we go into the end of summer and early fall.”

In the voluntary stage, the city is asking residents to: Let their grass go dormant; limit landscape watering to twice a week and water before 8 a.m. or after 7 p.m.; take shorter showers; fix leaking faucets and toilets; and postpone new plantings until the fall.

“Overall, I think it’s going well,” DeBoldt said. “People are very cognizant of it.”

“I have not heard of any citizen or resident alarm out of this situation as of yet,” added Laurelin Ward, City of Redmond water supervisor for Public Works water operations/maintenance.

DeBoldt said she has received less than five emails from residents, who mostly asked questions on how to cut back on 10 percent, and her responses included the above tips. She added that if somebody sees a neighbor who’s over-watering (and the water is flowing into the street) and contacts the city, someone from the city may remind the resident of the voluntary stage situation. In a mandatory phase, warnings or fines may be the next step.

City wise, its many departments have all been reducing water usage during the advisory and voluntary phases.

On the fire department side, fire marshal Todd Short said that all voluntary training that uses hose streams have been curtailed until drought conditions improve.

Short added: “The dry conditions in our area increases the risk of fires that grow at a rapid pace. Water conservation measures will help ensure that water used for firefighting purposes is available if needed.”

To help in the overall effort to douse the risk of fires, Short and his crews ask citizens to be especially careful with ignition sources — which includes smoking materials and barbecues — and remove all dried leaves, limbs and debris on the ground around their homes or in their roof gutters.

The parks department is reducing the hours of operation of the Grass Lawn Park splash pad by five hours to 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and they’ve turned off the water features at Grass Lawn Park and behind the senior center (the city hall water feature may soon be next).

Parks operations manager David Tuchek said they’ve eliminated pressure washing of sidewalks and of all facilities, including tennis courts and the skate park. However, washing will still take place in slippery conditions/safety issues and with graffiti removal.

The parks department will reduce the frequency of using its 55-site irrigation system from seven to two days a week, Tuchek said. This includes parks, landscape right-of-ways, municipal buildings and on all turf, excluding ballfields (which need to be watered for safety purposes in maintaining an even surface).

“That should save quite a bit of water, a reduction of about 60 percent or so,” Tuchek said.

With the Public Works department, they’re reducing residential street sweeping — which uses water — by about 30 percent until autumn leaves begin to fall.

On the stormwater and wastewater side, they’re cutting back on and rescheduling jetting activities and use of vactor equipment. Ward said that a vactor can hold up to 1,500 gallons of water, so her department is saving a significant amount of water on a weekly basis.

DeBoldt said the city is also looking at both public and private projects that require use of water. An example of this is reducing sprinkling to keep dust down at construction areas.

Added Ward: “The different departments around the city are working very closely (and) coming together on a weekly basis to monitor the situation, to share information, to tweak our response and help the public in any way we can. I feel really positive about how that effort’s being coordinated from the city. Everyone from communications, parks, fire, public works, planning — the whole gamut.” (DeBoldt noted that the finance department has been adding information in residents’ water and utility bills.)

WHAT’S NEXT?

Redmond has a planned response for all phases of water reduction and the public will clearly know about each further phase through notices or announcements in the Reporter.

Scott Thomasson, City of Redmond Public Works utility engineering manager, hopes people will help out so the next phases aren’t reached.

“If the public responds well to the voluntary curtailment, and uses 10 percent to 15 percent less, that would be a good thing. If for some reason they didn’t respond well and we’re only getting 5 percent savings, then you’d have to look at going to the next stage to get the savings you need,” he said.

Gov. Jay Inslee issued a statement this week on water curtailment: “We encourage and support the water conservation measures our cities and towns are taking across the state, including our largest cities. This drought is shaping up to be the state’s worst in modern history. The U.S. Drought Monitor considers the entire state to be in a severe drought and 43 percent of it in an extreme drought. We all need to do our part to use water wisely and not waste this precious resource.”

DeBoldt said city officials were happy to see some rain fall last week.

“As far as weather that had an effect in helping to refill the reservoirs, you need several days of that sort of weather to really make a big difference,” she added. “But it doesn’t hurt.”

For more information about the different phases of curtailment, visit www.redmond.gov/redmondsaveswater or contact the City of Redmond Utility Billing Office at (425) 556-2152. For more water efficiency tips, visit www.cascadewater.org.