WORTHINGTON - While Worthington’s water supply at the Lake Bella Well Field continues to decline, the city’s Water & Light Commission took no action to impose further bans on water use during a Monday afternoon meeting.
City residents and businesses remain under a ban of unattended watering, which includes the use of sprinkler systems.
Worthington Public Utilities general manager Scott Hain said the static water level in Well 26 dropped four inches last week to 9 feet, 6 inches below the historic average for the well. Compared to a year ago, however, the static water level was still 3 inches higher.
“While we are declining, we are not declining at as rapid a pace as we did in 2014, 2013 and 2012,” Hain told commission members.
Part of the discussion Monday focused on residential water usage and whether the next phase of the watering ban should be initiated.
Hain said residents have used 3.6 million fewer gallons of water through the first six months of this year than they did during the same timeframe a year ago. In essence, people are already doing what they can to conserve water.
“I don’t hold out a whole lot of hope that by banning the other uses at the residential level it’s going to save us much,” Hain said.
He added that he’s contacted some of the larger, commercial operations about water use and “they are aware of the situation.” Commercial water use increased by 5.2 million gallons in the first six months of 2015 as compared to the same time period in 2014.
“There’s one tail that wags the dog here and that’s where we really need to work to see the reduction (in water use),” Hain continued.
The largest commercial user of water in the city limits is JBS, the pork processing facility. Commission Chairman Randy Thompson inquired if there were any planned production slowdowns for the plant that may reduce consumption.
Hain said the opposite is actually anticipated - that the plant will begin working Saturdays again in another month or so.
At this time, Hain encourages Worthington Public Utilities water customers to continue water conservation, saying everyone could do a little more to reduce water use.
“It’s important that people understand - I wouldn’t classify us in crisis mode right now, but it’s important people know where we are,” he said. “We’ll continue to monitor this.”
If the static water levels continue to drop in the Worthington wells, Hain said he won’t hesitate to contact commission members before their next scheduled meeting on Aug. 10.
The city continues to buy all of the water it can access from Lincoln-Pipestone Rural Water.
“We’re in a tough spot,” said Thompson. “We need some rain to start falling from the sky to recharge our wells. We know we’re taking all of the water we can get right now.”
Added commission member Jim Elsing, “When are we scheduling the rain dance?”
