By Staff
Water restrictions help in drought
Effective immediately, the Birmingham Water Works Board has downgraded its water use restrictions during the drought from Stage Three to Stage Two. That means an end to excessive, use surcharges and a lift of the ban on carwashes and related businesses. But the Water Board still requests voluntary limitation be exercised by its customers.
According to the National Weather Service, the months of September and October are climatologically the two driest of the year for the Midsouth.
While the reduction in restrictions is great news, the Water Board continues to discourage any watering on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The area is still 16 inches behind in rainfall this year.
The cooperative response of the public made the downgrade possible in the first place.
Water consumption fell from 131 million gallons per day to 101 million gallons of water per day.
Now Lake Purdy is even above its safe yield at 73- percent capacity.
Shelby County Reporter