By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – On Monday, August 21, the City of Port Angeles announced, due to low flows in the Elwha River, a Stage II Water Shortage had been declared to encourage immediate voluntary reductions in the water usage of city residents.
Conditions have not improved since that time, and there’s reason to believe water restrictions for Port Angeles utility customers to be upgraded very soon, said City Manager Nathan West on Wednesday.
“I think it’s important that we recognize that Elwha flows are sensitive this time of year. We don’t have a real good forecast right now for what it’s looking like in the next several weeks. And so, we’re actually in a transition period. And last night we actually had Council authorize us to implement stage 3 when the time comes. And so, right now we’re predicting, from a forecast perspective, that we will probably be in Stage 3 within the next week.”
If Stage III is declared, as it was in early October last year, non-essential uses of water will be prohibited on all properties connected to the City’s water system. That would mean: no washing of sidewalks, driveways or patios, using a hose.
Escaping water through breaks or leaks should reasonably be fixed within 48 hours after the customer discovers it.
No non-commercial washing of privately owned motor vehicles and boats, except from a bucket or hose using a shutoff nozzle for quick rinses.
No sprinkling and irrigation of lawns and plants between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and residents will be placed on an ODD/EVEN rotation schedule. This means property addresses ending in odd numbers are permitted to sprinkle on odd numbered days, and property addresses ending in even numbers are permitted to sprinkle on even numbered days.
West said the City’s waterflow is close to half of the mean waterflow we usually see this time of year, and it’s happening earlier than last year.
“So last year, we declared Stage 3 in October, and that carried all the way, I believe, until about November 11, which was the furthest we’ve ever seen something like that extend out. This year, both for Stage 2, and what, it looks like we’re going to be in Stage 3, we’re actually about a month ahead of where we were last year. So not a great forecast, again, as far as what we’re looking at, and we could really use some good rainfall.”