By James Day
The City of Silverton has put in place a new water use policy, which automatically kicked in May 1 with the lowest level of alert.
The new policy was approved by the City Council at its March 7 meeting and is replacing one approved in 2016.
The new policy features five levels of alert: low, mild, moderate, high and extreme. For each level, which requires City Council action to implement, the goal of the reduction in demand rises, from 5% for low to 30% for high. An extreme alert will trigger the city’s emergency operations plan.
Actions required to reduce demand include reductions in commercial and residential use, scheduling of lawn watering, limiting car washing to commercial facilities to possible drought rate surcharges and daily allotments for residential customers.
Enforcement will start at a written warning for a first offense, with fines escalating from $60 (second offense) to $240 (four or more violations). City officials also can turn off service if fines are not paid.
“We look forward to working with the Silverton community to improve water efficiency awareness and promote water-saving practices,” City Manager Ron Chandler said in a statement released by the city.
Silverton also is encouraging customers to use the WaterSense program developed by the Environmental Protection Agency to help save water. WaterSense labeled products must use 20% less water and perform as well or better than standard models to be certified.
Such products include toilets, bathroom faucets and accessories, showerheads, flushing urinals, weather-based irrigation controllers, and spray sprinkler bodies.
For the full Silverton resolution and alert level information, videos, Marion County and state information as well as WaterSense details see https://silverton.or.us/345/ on the city website.
