Don’t water your lawn (at least not every day): Del-Co and Jefferson ask their customers

Thousands of central Ohioans are being asked to conserve water as the region’s late-summer drought continues with little relief in sight. 

Del-Co Water, which supplies water to most of Delaware and Morrow counties, as well as parts of Knox, Franklin, Union, Marion, and Crawford counties, issued a mandatory watering schedule on Sept. 17 to get residents to reduce their lawn watering. 

Currently, water demand is outpacing the system’s ability to pump water to the area and keep tanks filled. Daily water demand for Del-Co is currently around 12 million gallons, just under half of the 25 million gallons the system produces daily, according to Del-Co Water spokesperson Jeff Kauffman.

If demand doesn’t come down, the utility provider may have to issue a complete ban on outdoor watering, or part of the water system may lose pressure, risking the health and safety of the region, according to Kauffman.

“We don’t want to end up in that situation,” he said.

Under Del-Co’s new watering schedule, homes with odd-numbered addresses should water their lawns on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, while even-numbered addresses should water on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. No residents should water their lawns on Mondays.

The watering schedule does not apply to businesses, and residents can still water their landscaping or their gardens, according to Kauffman. It is in effect until Oct. 1.

The primary drivers of the summer water demand spike are lawn irrigation systems that operate daily, according to Kauffman. 

Water conservation requests issued in Marion, Jefferson Township

Further north, utility company Aqua issued a water conservation request for Marion residents on Sept. 17, asking residents to reduce nonessential water consumption, according to a press release.

Specifically, Aqua is asking residents to delay doing laundry or running the dishwasher until their loads are full, shorten their showers, and avoid landscape irrigation and watering vehicles. 

Jefferson Township Water & Sewer District in far eastern Franklin County has asked its residents since June 18 to voluntarily reduce water usage due to the anticipated hot summer weather with extended dry spells and a multi-million-dollar improvement project underway at its water treatment plant on Taylor Road.

“During this high demand period, the JWSD water treatment plant runs continuously and processes as much water as possible, but there are times during long hot spells that we struggle to keep ourwater towers full,” Director Albert J. Iosue told customers in a letter. “JWSD continues to make improvements to the Water Treatment Plant to increase our water production capacity.”

In early September, JWSD began rehabilitation of four of its iron filters at the water treatment plant, which remove iron and manganese from the raw well water supply during the treatment process. JWSD customers have long complained about the hard water the district supplies, which can lead to early replacement of water heaters, refrigerators, plumbing fixtures and more, forcing customers to get some kind of water softener filtration system in their homes.

The work includes emptying the iron filters, sandblasting the insides, repainting and resealing the interior, replacing internal components and installing new filter media, the district says. That work may reduce water pressure for customers for about 10 weeks until its estimated completion on Nov. 17.

Other improvements include the construction of a 300,000-gallon clearwell to increase disinfection and storage capacity. Total cost of all the work is $4.9 million. A state grant is paying for $1.7 million of the cost.

JWSD’s Iosue offered the same water-saving tips as other water utilities, asking JWSD customers to water lawns, landscape plants and gardens a maximum of three days a week with odd-numbered house addresses on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and even-numbered addresses on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

JWSD requests its customers not water on Sunday so it can refill its storage tanks on that day.

Could Columbus residents need to conserve water?

There is currently no need for voluntary or mandatory water restrictions in Columbus, but the city still recommends residents conserve water, according to Columbus Water and Power spokesperson George Zonders.

“We always advise people to conserve water. If for no other reason, the less water you use, the less your bill will be,” Zonders said.

Breaking and trending news reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com and at @NathanRHart on X and at nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.