EVERETT — Metro Puget Sound cities, including Everett, are asking their residents and businesses to curtail all nonessential uses of water.
The advisory is the second stage of the drought response plan adopted by the cities of Everett, Seattle and Tacoma.
The persistent drought has caused abnormally low water levels at Spada Lake, Everett’s main reservoir, which has triggered the region to move to the second stage of their Drought Response System.
“We’re asking people to reduce their water use by 10 percent,” said Marla Carter, spokeswoman for Everett’s public works department, which serves an area with a population of about 570,000.
Spada Lake has a visible “tub ring” of exposed shoreline where the water level has dropped.
The most recent measurements put Spada Lake at 64 percent of the normal level for this time of year. The lake has about 26.8 billion gallons of water left, 53 percent of its total 60 billion gallon capacity.
The city is keeping an eye on the long-term forecast, Carter said.
“We feel we have enough water to get through to the fall if we have the rains when we typically do, but that’s looking a little bit iffy,” she said.
In the past 30 days, the area has only had 1.6 inches of rain. Normally there would have been 4.3 inches in that time, Carter said.
The low water level at Spada Lake has also caused the Snohomish County Public Utility District to cut back on power generation at the Jackson Hydroelectric Project, where the reservoir drains into the Sultan River.
Normally this time of year the dam would generate about 20 megawatts of power, enough for about 15,000 homes, said PUD spokesman Neil Neroutsos.
“Right now we’re generating at 14 (megawatts), about two-thirds of that,” Neroutsos said.
The district has other sources of power, and natural gas prices are relatively cheap right now, so the district isn’t anticipating any power shortages, he added.
The PUD also has about 20,000 residential water customers, most of them around Lake Stevens.
The district is taking its cue from the city in asking its customers to reduce their water consumption by 10 percent.
The first stage of the drought response system was triggered July 28. At that time, customers were asked to be more mindful of their water usage, such as only watering plants or lawns after 7 p.m. or before 8 a.m., fixing leaks and sweeping rather than watering sidewalks and patios clean.
Water consumption is still about 13 percent above normal over the last 30 days, so the city is hoping people will limit all non-essential uses of water.
“Consider letting your lawn go brown,” Carter said.
Residents are also asked to limit watering plants to twice a week, limit car washing and other recreational uses of water.
The cities will revisit the water supply and drought conditions in two weeks’ time, Carter said, to see if the plan was successful in reducing consumption.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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