Dallas asks people to take water conservation measures - Statesman Journal

Dallas, Oregon asks people to take water conservation measures

Dallas asks people to take water conservation measures

The city is cutting irrigation at parks in half and forcing restaurants to offer water to customers only when they ask. Brief *
Bill Poehler

Dallas is taking water conservation measures, the city announced Tuesday.

The city of 17,000, located 15 miles west of Salem, gets its drinking water from Rickreall Creek and holds it at Mercer Dam. The city has targeted the earthen dam for a $70 million replacement that would store almost twice as much water.

Officials said this summer has been among the hottest and driest on record, impacting the water supply.

The city is implementing the first stage of water curtailments, which includes asking all water customers to reduce use, cutting irrigation at parks and schools in half, requiring all restaurants to serve water to customers only when asked and requiring motels to post a notice of drought conditions in each room.

“We are asking our water customers to be thoughtful about their water consumption during the dry summer and fall months because we rely heavily on our stored rainwater for our daily water supply,” city manager Brian Latta said in a statement.

For more information, go to the city’s website at dallasor.gov/publicworks/page/water-conservation-plan

Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com