Augusta County issues voluntary water conservation advisory

AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) - Augusta Water has issued a voluntary water conservation advisory for people living in Augusta County.

After the Department of Environmental Quality’s decision to place the Shenandoah Valley in a drought warning. The Augusta County Board of Supervisors is expected to declare Augusta County in a drought warning at their Sep. 13 meeting.

According to their website, some of the actions people can take include:

• Reduce lawn watering to no more than two times per week and water between the hours of 9:00 PM and 10:00 AM.
• Reduce vegetable garden watering and water between the hours of 9:00 PM and 10:00 AM.
• Avoid sprinkler use. Use soil-soakers or drip irrigation.
• Do not plant new landscaping or grass.

For commercial customers:

• implement interior retrofit for all high water-use faucets and materials.
• Restrict washing of sidewalks, driveways, parking lots or any other paved surface except in the case of meeting health and safety standards.
• Prohibit operations of fountains at commercial sites.

Phillip Martin, executive director of Augusta Water, said these guidelines will help people who use wells or Augusta Water.

“Anyone who drinks water or uses water whether it’s through a private well or whether it’s Augusta water should follow these things we have on our website these recommendations because your private well can certainly go dry too,” Martin said.

Augusta Water has additional reservoirs and water sources that are currently inactive. Martin said the county can tap into those in case the drought warning becomes a drought emergency in the county.

Martin said the drought warning didn’t “suddenly appear,” the warning comes after consistent dry periods in the Valley.

“We didn’t get to this level of drought warning just overnight, it’s been something that’s coming on,” Martin said. “Really the whole year it has been really dry. /// By the same token that it did not happen overnight, it’s not going to be fixed overnight.”

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