Tooele City officials are reminding citizens to use water wisely this season.
The city has posted a schedule for outdoor watering on its website in an effort to coordinate water conservation. The schedule is voluntary and includes all local residences, businesses, schools and government agencies using culinary water.
The watering schedule divides the city into three sections. Section one, including all properties north of Vine Street and west of Main, is asked to water only on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Section two, including all properties north of Vine Street and east of Main, is asked to water only on Tuesdays and Fridays. Section three, including all properties south of Vine Street, is asked to water only on Mondays and Thursdays.
No watering is allowed on Sundays.
City parks and schools are on a modified schedule to accommodate their bigger lawns. Although they may turn on the water more than two days each week, a specific area of the lawn is only watered twice per week. The entire lawn will not be watered more than twice per week, according to the watering schedule published by Tooele City.
“We have routinely issued this plan and encouraged residents to follow it every year as a measure to be smart about our water use as a community,” said city public works director Jim Bolser. “Bear in mind the conservation schedule is advisory and cooperation from the community is what keeps it from becoming mandatory.”
Because the schedule is voluntary, the city doesn’t keep strict track of who follows it, so it’s hard to say how many residents follow the schedule. But anecdotally, city staff has noticed “quite a bit of effort on the part of the community to follow the schedule,” Bolser added.
“There certainly are those that do not, but we’ve been pleased at the number that appear to be following the schedule,” he said.