By Greg Avery
Camera Staff Writer

Boulder water officials have been getting deluged in recent days, just not in a way that will put an end to drought.

Since telling property owners to limit outdoor water use starting May 21, the city's water department has been flooded with telephone calls.

The city started limiting all outdoor water use to two days a week for each property, no more than 15 minutes in any one section of yard or garden — or for a use like washing a car — and no watering between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

No "non-essential" outdoor uses, like hosing off driveways and sidewalks, are allowed.

The restrictions were put in place until April to protect the water in the city's mountain reservoirs, which are less than half as full as normal.

In the first couple of days after the restrictions were announced, dozens of people called for advice on how to meet the restrictions, said Jane Nelson, the city's public works spokeswoman.

Since then, the city has received an increasing number of calls about ways in which the city's restrictions are being ignored.

Most calls are about neighbors watering on the wrong day, during the wrong hours, or watering for too long.

Many of the calls have been reports that sprinklers outside businesses or apartment complexes were watering at the wrong times or watering for longer than they were supposed to.

Ned Williams, the city's head of utilities, said that in the week since the restrictions were enacted he has spotted many people watering gardens and lawns in the middle of the day, when watering is not allowed.

The city has been calling some of the reported offenders to inform them of the restrictions and dispense advice about how they can comply. The city also has put out fliers explaining the measures.

Starting next week, such reports could generate tickets ranging between $50 and $300 if a city water monitor — code enforcer, police officer or other trained city employee — catches a violator.

Nelson said most of the feedback the city has received is from people eager to comply and that people have adopted a new attitude about water use.

"It's raising your level of consciousness, and people are looking at what they're doing and what their neighbor's doing," Nelson said.

Contact Greg Avery at (303) 473-1307 or averyg@thedailycamera.com.

May 29, 2002

E-mail this story to a friend | Printer-friendly version