From May 15 to Oct 15, my town (which relies mainly on wells, though we can buy water from Lowell/the Merrimack River) imposes restrictions based on how full the water towers are. Level 1=odd/even watering days based on house numbers, from 6 AM to 9 AM OR from 6 PM to 9 PM. Level 2=outside watering only allowed 6 PM to 9 PM. Level 3=all outside watering banned. So far this year we have only had Level 1 imposed, because the spring and early summer were wet and cool. In 1999 we went up to Level 3 for a while, and only back down to Level 2 because Lowell sold us some water. These are the most stringent restrictions I've ever had to live under--even when I lived in Idaho, we could water all day on "our" day. (But then, that was 25 years ago!)

Massachusetts has some interesting water issues of its own--not quite the same as the water rights out west, but similar.

Claudino, the Houston area has no restrictions yet. But thanks for starting this thread, because it might help to sort out what should be done here when it's our turn.

I thought you might enjoy a laugh, or sigh, about this true story from many years ago. I lived on a military base in the Calif. desert. Rule was odd-even by house numbers, water every other day, no limit on time of day or amount used. (Go figure THAT!) An ingenious guy rigged a pump and take-up hose to put out in the curb, to use runoff on his off-day. Someone came around and ordered him to cease!

When they said "curb" water use, they were SERIOUS!

I have a well so my retrictions are my own. But i am scared!
My water has been cloudy many times. I am thinking about investing in another well up in my field. It will be almost $6,000, but I think it might be a worthy investment
Jen

Sequoia-

On level 3, was outside watering banned even if you used grey water? How harsh!

As far as I know, here in Salt Lake County, we don't have anything "mandated" yet; I'm not sure about other parts of the state. The powers that be have asked us to water only between 6 p.m. and 10 a.m., and not to water our lawns every day or to the point of runoff.

I wish they would cite these people I see "watering the pavement", or letting water run down the gutter (I admire that guy in CA for using the runoff!). It makes me mad to see such waste. The Salt Lake valley was originally a desert, after all.

In Colo Spgs we have just been given tighter restrictions--lawn watering only 2 days a week and for no more than 3 hours(before 9 A.M. or after 7 P.M.) Car washing only on designated watering days. We can still water our gardens if done with a hose.

My area was downgraded sometime in June from the highest "Drought Emergency" (mandatory restrictions, no public fountains, no water served at restaurants unless requested, hand-held watering only between certain hours, etc) to the 2nd highest - "Drought Warning", which is a voluntary 10-15% reduction I believe.

Because it's suddenly gotten dry again (several of our watersheds are back down to 50% or below) and so far in August, we've only registered a trace of rain, I have a feeling that barring a Tropical Storm deluge that people often wish for when it gets like this, we may revert back to "Emergency" again. As it is, the 14 counties that surround Philadelphia, Bucks, and Montgomery Counties, are still in a "Drought Emergency" and 14 more around those are in "Drought Watch". The fact that the 3 of us who were downgraded have some pretty large rivers running through, was somewhat helpful to get the downgrade, particularly since their sources were upstate and out-of-state where more rain fell. We do have to be careful though because once it gets dry like this, the salt line from the ocean starts moving up the Delaware River from the bay and can get into the drinking water of those who get water from the river.

PA Drought Status

In my area of Utah, even numbered addresses can water from 6 pm on Tue evening till 6 am on Wednesday, same routine T-F and S-Su. Odd numbered houses can water 6 pm till 6 am Monday evening until Tuesday morning with the same routine W-h and F-S.

The water pressure has been so low at times that it's difficult to get good coverage and I spend a lot of time with a hose trying to keep some drought stressed plants alive.

In Nassau County in NY we have odd/even watering days depending address. It's supposed to be done between 4pm-10am. I see a lot of violators both with reguard to time or date but I doubt that it's enforced much if at all. You can tell who is not obeying by who has the green lawns. Mine is very brown now. I di give some of the sunnier beds extra water with the hose or watering can.

I'm in one of PA's drought emergency counties and have been since the first declaration on Feb 12. Watering is permitted daily, but only from 5pm to 9am, and only by bucket, watering can or hose with automatic shut-off device. Watering of grass is completely banned except for newly seeded or sodded areas - these can be watered only from 7pm to 11pm. Watering of food or fiber plants is unrestricted.

Cars may only be washed according to house number. Odds get the 1st and 3rd weekends of the month, and evens get the 2nd and 4th. Washing may only be done via bucket, with a 2 minute wetting-down and rinsing period by hose, and again, only if the hose has an automatic shut-off sprayer. Washing of driveways and sidewalks is prohibited entirely.

Operation of fountains is forbidden, and adding of water to ponds is also, unless necessary to keep fish alive.

All consumers are also encouraged to voluntarily cut consumption by 15%.

In Denver off and on over the years we've had outdoor water restrictions. We have circle, square and diamond days depending on the last two digits of your address, e.g., 8680 is my address, so I'm an 80 watering day which would be a circle, since 61-99 would be circle days. 31-60 would be square days, and 0-30 would be diamond. The symbols are published in the paper and on TV news every day.

And we have water police too. Just the other day they cited my apartment complex for having a fountain display, even though they've been using the same old water year after year.

No watering during the hottest time of the day, no mist watering, people are to let the city know if they see boulevard sprinklers aimed at the street (or elsewhere), no water at restaurants unless requested -- I think that's all.

We have and have had all of the above restrictions.
No car washing, no no washing.

Water yard with sprinkler 4 am till 8 am. Better have the
sprinkler system.

Water police are paid to police water.

However, we have many golf courses, entertainment facilities, etc., that use millions of gallons and somehow are not in violation of anything.

We also have a newspaper that posts the water usage of the
baseball players, actors, actresses, and other worthless
people with zillions of $$$$$ that use more water than
some small cities.

Worse than that are ARTESIAN WELLS pumping out thousands
of gallons of water a second and it is taking the State of
Florida years to cap these wells.

What is wrong with America? Government, Lawyers and
Politicians that we voted for.

Wow! I'm pretty amazed at how many of you are allowed to water legally at all! Our mandatory restrictions (for about two months now) prohibit any outdoor watering, at any time of day, on any day of the week, any car washing except by commercial places that recycle their water, and certainly any frivolous things like fountains! I'm applying painful triage principles to my garden, rationing out gray water and what little is left in my rain barrels to my most precious plants. Plugging the tub when I take a shower gives me enough for about five toilet flushes. Every sink has a bucket in it.

The most depressing thing, however, is that there's no relief in sight for central Virginia, not this fall, or winter, or next year. . .

---Margaret

To answer Anita's question, the question of using grey water was never addressed by our Town Water Commissioners. I had some newly planted shrubs that year that I refused to let die, so I filled watering cans and watered them by hand. Just shutting down the automatic sprinkler systems on all the newly erected mini-mansions seemed to hold the line, until we could get hooked up to Merrimack River water.

The town is in the process of going from septic tanks to sewers, and this week they are digging up my street. When we do switch over, the water from my washing machine (which presently goes into a dry well, so indirectly adds to the water table in that section of the yard) will start going into the sewers, unless I can persuade the plumber to install some kind of system where I can tap into that water source if need be. The Northeast is not used to thinking of water as a finite resource, but we may have to start doing so. Wish I'd thought about the water from the a/c sooner--it was sure cranking every day for a while. Cool since yesterday, and a 1/8" shower this morning!

Claudino;

I'm about 5 miles north of Delaware.

They issued the attached Mandatory water conservation measures on August 2nd. After all the political fluff, the meat of the restrictions is about half-way down the document.

Cheers.
--Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Mandatory water conservation measures

Next week, I'll be with Margaret. Outdoor watering banned period. I've been hauling gray water out of the house and using my rapidly-depleting rainbarrels on occassion, and haven't been ticketed--yet. Actually, I'm not real sure if gray water is legal or not. I'd rather not call them and ask; don't want to draw my attention to the water police.
Our lake reserve is down to 82 days of water, and the govenor is trying to figure out how to truck water in to us.
Local politicians have been fighting over the building of a dam for 40 YEARS! They knew this area would be running out of water 25+ years ago, without even adding a huge, extended drought to the picture. They are finally building the dam, but don't expect it to be providing water until 2006 or 2007...if they can get enough rain to flood the dam....
I better not "get my dander up!"
merj

Here in Pueblo, Colorado we have been on two days per week, 3 hours on those days, depending on address numbers. No watering between 7am and 7pm, water flowers, gardens, pots by hand on any day, except, No watering on any Tuesday! This has been the schedule for some time now. There will be NO outside watering after Oct. 1st.

Merj - check out the drought information for North Carolina. You can maybe scan through it and not have to call... ;-)

Wow, I thought 2 days a week from 4am till 8am was bad.
But no watering Glycera and Ruth. What can you do? Kind
of makes one think of stashing water while it is here.

And I have been complaining about flooding and 50 + days
of rain which slowed down yesterday. Whoops, sometimes you
get what you wish for..................

Merj,
You are allowed to use grey water. Most biologists/epidemiologists recommend that you add one part bleach to 10 parts water before using it to water your plants, especially for edibles to prevent spreading bacteria. Let the bleach water sit for 24 hours in an open container to prevent harm to your plants. You don't want to see what that water looks like under a microscope.

In Durham we can water only on Wed and Sat 5-9 A or P with a max of one inch per week. I don't water my lawn at all, but I do water the gardens (I spent too much money to allow the plants to die). I'm also putting in a rain barrel or 2 so I can water with that instead. Also going to be more careful about what I use inside. I haven't been saving grey water at all, and I should.

Bergen County, NJ - we can't water anything outdoors. I just found this out yesterday.

Tracy,
I am in Bergen Cty also, with the restrictions back in place we can water shrubs, trees and vegetable gardens on the even/odd days in the early morning or evenings. Just can't water the lawns.

Sherrie, hope you never need a lawyer to fight for your rights or the rights of someone you love. You might think twice about what lawyers do to help people in America if you were falsely accused of a crime or were being treated unfairly by your insurance company, employer, etc...

Now, back to gardening!

So nobody actually having household water supplies turned off yet?

--ian

ian - have not heard of that anywhere yet from a municipality, although it wouldn't surprise me that many households may now have dry wells, so that would mean no water at all for that house. Either the homeowner spends the $$$ to dig a deeper well (and that really is a big cost) or they try to wait it out.

However, I have heard of schools in the hardest hit locations around me, requesting that children bring water with them because of the poor quality and/or low pressure of water in the school buildings.

In general, there have been cases in the past where the Salvation Army has come to locations with water tanker trucks for individual water distribution, with x gallons of water given out per person per day.

Ian,
One of the towns around Raleigh is talking about lower the pressure to the houses if it get any worse. Tonight their town counsel is considering wether to go to stage 6 restrictions. This means using hand sanitizer and paper/plastic. And I'm sure more drastic measures. On the up side - We've gotten rain here since Sunday!!! Yippee!!!!