Watering ban in full force in Brandon

On July 17 Brandon’s water supply dropped to what city leaders called “dangerously low level,” prompting the council to impose a ban on watering lawns.

According to public works director Rollie Hoeke, on Monday morning the city’s water supply had dipped to 110,000 gallons. Large structure fires in Brandon in recent years required 100,000 to 150,000 gallons of water.

“So as of eight o’clock this morning, when we checked it, we wouldn’t have had enough to put that out,” Hoeke said.

After reviewing city water usage from June 1 through July 16, the council approved Resolution 11-7, which bans all watering of lawns. Through application by the property owner, exceptions may be granted. City Administrator Bryan Read or Hoeke have been appointed to “grant” the exceptions.

Violators will face a posted notice on their property on their first offense and losing water service if caught a second time.

“I understand where the residents are at. I like green grass, too,” said council member Blaine Jones, who formerly served on the volunteer fire department. “But I also love a safe city. And we need to be able to known that, worst case scenario – and that’s what we have to plan for in a situation like this – if our firefighters are out, and they’ve called two or three other departments for mutual aid to fight a large structure fire, that we can provide them with the water they need.”

When usage exceeds 1.6 million gallons for three consecutive days, voluntary watering restrictions are triggered.

“We’ve exceeded our three days straight and then some,” Hoeke said.

The ban isn’t new to Brandon. Last June city-imposed watering restrictions brought usage down from 1.8 million gallons to 1.2 million.

“What’s happened this year, if you look at the usage, it’s crept back up, crept back up, and starting early in July, it stayed constant,” said Read. “I don’t think the weather patterns have necessarily changed all that much.”

He looked at properties of some high water users and calculated they were watering more than twice the amount needed – in some cases, over 50,000 gallons of water in a month when 15,000 would have sufficed.

“We’re looking at about a million gallons of water going on lawns in the summer months,” Read said, adding that one inch of water per week is enough to keep a lawn healthy in the summer.

Electronic signs notifying property owners of the watering ban are posted in several locations throughout town. The city will continue to use a backup well out of necessity, Hoeke said. That water is not treated to remove high levels of iron and manganese; as a result, the water may appear discolored and stain laundry.

After more than half an hour of discussion among the council, city leaders and residents, Jo Hausman made a motion to approve the ban. It was seconded by Roger Brooks. Jon McInerny abstained.

Several voiced concerns that the ban was too harsh. Last month the council placed restrictions on watering gardens, trees and shrubs.

“When we put it in place, it dropped. It’s creeping up because it’s getting dry, and the people in Brandon love to have their lawns green,” Jones said. “Until they’re faced with the true facts – that if your house starts on fire today, we’re not going to be able to put it out – only then are they going to understand, ‘I’d rather have a brown lawn than a burnt-down house or a loss of life.’”

Another well, No. 7, uses a treatment process that isn’t yet set up at the plant, but even if it were in use, well No. 7 wouldn’t be able to keep up with the almost 2,000 gallons a minute the city is pumping from the reservoir, Hoeke said.

 “We can have all the wells we want, but if we can only push 2,000 gallons a minute through the treatment plant, that’s going to be a restriction in the near future,” Read said. “My lawn is a little crunchy at the moment, I do admit.”

Alternative violations were discussed, including making the offense a misdemeanor, imposing punitive charges on high-water users and doubling the size of the city’s water treatment facility, a need that was identified in 2013.

Communication and educating the public about the watering restrictions has been a problem this year, several said at Monday’s meeting.

“We’ve got so many good people and conscientious people in the city, I think if they actually knew about the restrictions they would stop watering if they knew the extent,” McInerny said.

Jones urged the public to help police usage.

“For those of you who are short-tempered about what we’re talking about here tonight, I apologize,” he said. “We don’t have somebody to put in a car and drive around to see if sprinklers are running.”

Hoeke said the Brandon Valley School District has applied for the exception to water the football playing fields at the high school, the middle school and Brandon Elementary

The ban does not impact commercial car washes or the municipal golf course.