Sheldon, Iowa — The City of Sheldon remains under a Water Watch that went into effect on June 10th, due to extremely high water usage in the city, as well as the ongoing drought.
On June 9th, Sheldon businesses and residences used 1.516-million gallons of water, prompting the Water Watch. Public Works Director Todd Uhl said at the time that the City’s wells could support about 1.1-million gallons of usage per day, well below the June 9th usage rate.
The Water Watch, which is a voluntary measure, urged citizens to curtail any non-essential use of water to preserve the resources. We were advised to only water our lawns between the hours of 8:30 pm and 8:00 am, not to wash streets, parking lots, driveways, sidewalks or building exteriors, not to fill pools or ponds of any kind and not to use water for nonessential cleaning of commercial and industrial equipment, machinery and interior spaces.
Water use, for the most part, has decreased since the Water Watch was put into effect, with City officials warning that mandatory water conservation measures might have to be put into effect at some future point.
Our highest water usage since the Water Watch went into effect was on June 14th, when Sheldon residents and businesses used 1.388-million gallons, or about 26% ABOVE the City’s sustainable usage rate.
There is some good news to report, however. Since July 10th, with the exception of July 19th, when 1.212-million gallons was used and July 20th, we have been close to, or below the sustainable usage level estimated by the City. In fact, from July 21st through 25th, usage was below the 1.1-million gallon threshold with the best day coming this past Saturday when only 908-thousand gallons, or 17% BELOW the sustainable figure. Then on Sunday, we used 952-thousand gallons, coming in some 13% below the sustainable usage level set by the City of Sheldon.
So it would appear that we’re doing what we need to do. But we need to continue into the future. With this week’s hot weather, demand for water will increase and we can’t allow the City to get in a position where mandatory water restrictions must be put in place.
