By Brandon Patterson
Osceola Water Superintendent
At the last water board meeting, I was asked to update the public on our current water level at West Lake.
The water board agreed at this meeting to continue recommending voluntary water conservation.
Our current lake level is at 44 inches below the spillway. With the dry ground conditions, the recent rainfall we received had very little impact on lake levels.
We are continuing to ask the public for voluntary compliance in conserving water at this time.
Hopefully, by taking some voluntary precautions now, we can avoid mandatory restrictions in the future.
Mandating water restrictions is not something that we want to do.
One concern is that the upcoming winter will be mild with little snowfall. If this occurs, and we have a lack of snow melt, there will not have much runoff into the lake.
Hopefully, we will receive the much needed rainfall in the spring.
As consumers, some measures you can take to help avoid water restrictions with the current conditions include monitoring your water bill for unusually high use as your bill is a tool that can help you discover leaks, fix leaky faucets or toilets, run your clothes washer or dishwasher only when they are full, use a broom instead of a hose to clean your driveway and sidewalk, consider ways to shorten your shower by a couple of minutes and turn off the water while you brush your teeth or shave.
You can also help by reporting any broken water pipes. If you notice water running along the street or in the grass, call us to come check it out. The sooner leaks or main breaks are reported, the sooner we can work at fixing them.
If it’s after hours, you can call the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office, and they will call us.
By encouraging voluntary conservation, we are trying to avoid, or at least postpone, mandatory water restrictions.
If lake levels continue to fall, the water board will be tasked with some tough water-usage restrictions to enforce in the future.
Thanks for your help.