DRY WEATHER MAY PROMPT WATER CONSERVATION ORDERS

What could prove to be an ideal construction season this summer might also put a damper on water usage for city residents.

Warm dry weather is perfect for construction, which means new housing projects and apartments in the city are progressing quickly, as is construction at the city's water treatment plant on Cape Rock Drive.

The city is in the midst of a multi-million dollar improvement project to increase water capacity. The goal is to bring capacity from 4.5 million gallons per day to 7.5 million gallons.

City water usage now averages 7.3 million gallons per day, as opposed to 3 million gallons per day in 1983. While that might sound like a lot, St. Louis County residents go through 300 million gallons per day.

With all that water being used, will there be enough for everyone?

Cape Girardeau residents aren't being asked to conserve water yet, but some cities are issuing those orders. Columbia, Mo., has issued a water-conservation order to its residents.

Continued dry and hot weather could easily prompt water conservation orders locally.

"We'd be right on target for the summer if it hadn't been so hot and dry the past years," said Kevin Priester, water system manager for Alliance Water Resources. "If it stays hot and dry we'll ask people to conserve."

Without ample rain and continued dry and hot conditions, conservation orders could be issued. Two separate requests were made last summer.

Last summer the conservation requests asked residents to water periodically instead of daily or to help reduce the amount of water they used. "We asked people to do it voluntarily and we had good success with that," Priester said.

"We want people to be a little more conscientious about letting their sprinklers run or changing the times of day they water."

Other things to watch for are water leaks and avoiding high demand times. Last summer, residents used 18 percent more water than in the previous year, city officials said.

Water usage has continued to rise in Cape Girardeau over the past five to 10 years. As new housing is built and areas are annexed into the city limits, more customers are added.

To help offset some of the operating costs for the city's water system, new rates have been recommended. The water rates would increase by 2 percent, effective Sept. 1. The council approved, on first reading, an ordinance that would increase the water rates for both residential and commercial customers.

Residential rates, based on an average monthly bill, would rise from $15.90 to 16.22. Commercial rates would rise from $67.23 on average to $68.57.

New apartment construction at Sprigg and Bertling streets could easily add 200 new customers once the project is complete. And annexing an area like Twin Lakes Subdivision means "adding 300 customers overnight," Priester said.

While there isn't one area that can be pinpointed as the culprit, most of the growth has been cumulative, he added.

It is understandable that new housing areas will have to water more as they lay sod or landscape, Priester said.

But anyone with a lawn sprinkling system must have their backflow preventer valve checked each year to help reduce contaminants from entering the city's water system.

Ralph Flori, with the city's waterworks division, said the valves must be checked periodically as required by law. "You wouldn't want to drink anything that's been standing in the system."

And it water lines break or pressure changes, that could be the case. The backflow valves help keep the pressure at an even level so that any water from the break would be forced back to a city water main, Flori said.

There are more than 650 backflow devices in the city, but some are multiple devices at one location like the hospitals or university. Many new houses and new buildings are required to have the valves. City crews routinely ask that inspections are made, Flori said.

"It's a lot of letters and testing," he said. "But you wouldn't want to drink anything" that's been contaminated.