In the midst of the region’s all-time driest May-July and unusually hot weather, the city of Bellevue joined with the Cascade Water Alliance and other cities to recommend that citizens reduce their water use by 10 percent.
“The city is relying on the support and cooperation of all water users to conserve the available water supply. If everyone cooperates, we may avoid imposing more stringent restrictions at a later date,” Bellevue city officials said in a press release.
Residents are asked to cut back on unnecessary watering, take shorter showers, wash only full loads of laundry, and take other methods outlined in the city’s press release (go to http://www.bellevuewa.gov/utilitiesvoluntarywaterreduction.htm).
With the aforementioned concerns and in anticipation of a drier-than-normal fall, the Cascade Water Alliance joined Seattle Public Utilities, Tacoma Water and the city of Everett in their efforts to conserve the resource.
The Alliance supplies water to Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Tukwila, Issaquah and the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District.
This is the second of the four-stage water shortage plan. The first step was a water advisory, which issued on July 27. Water consumption across the region did not go down after Western Washington officials entered the first water conservation phase two weeks ago.
The Alliance’s water shortage plan must move step-by-step, and can only be increased in severity every two weeks. The soonest the Alliance could move into the mandatory water conservation stage is Aug. 25. While it is not definite the Alliance will call for mandatory conservation, it is certainly a possibility, said Elaine Kraft, the intergovernmental and communications director for the Cascade Water Alliance.
“We feel this is really critical,” said Kraft. “It’s not hard things. We’re hoping this 10 percent cut will make a difference.”
When asked why the city didn’t ask residents to voluntarily conserve water sooner, Bellevue Utilities spokesman Michael May said that the area had sufficient water reservoir levels this past spring, and did not see an uptick in water usage until this summer.
“To date, Seattle system customers have had adequate water for their needs. However, this year has been unusually hot and dry. In fact, we have seen a historically hot summer and record low precipitation. As a result, we have seen above normal water use during the months of June and July. This was not anticipated at the beginning of summer,” he said.
In an email sent in response to concerns voiced by resident Julie Beffa in March, Bellevue’s Utilities Director Nav Otal said that while the snowpack was low, the watershed that feeds the system managed by Seattle Public Utilities (which provides water to the Cascade Water Alliance) had seen close to normal precipitation.
“If current weather patterns persist, SPU’s reservoir refill strategy will rely on rain in the latter part of the winter and early spring to achieve reservoir targets,” Otal wrote in an email provided to the Reporter.
May said the decision to require mandatory curtailment will be made, if necessary, by Seattle Public Utilities.
“If the continued analysis of this data shows that a further reduction in demands is needed to meet the needs of customers or the rivers, (Seattle Public Utilities) will move to the next step in the water shortage response plan, which is a mandatory reduction in water use,” said May. “At that point Bellevue, along with Cascade, will likely join Seattle in declaring a mandatory reduction as we are all working together in this regional response.”
