Waukee moves to Stage 3 water conservation; mandatory lawn irrigation ban remains in effect

Waukee officials on June 16 updated the council on local implementation of a regional water-conservation Stage 3 ban on lawn irrigation after Central Iowa Water Works enacted the measure.

Fred (staff member) and Rudy (staff member) briefed the council. Rudy said since the Stage 3 implementation the city’s regional producers reduced production from about 73 million gallons per day to about 50 million gallons per day, bringing production to roughly 70% of full capacity at the plants. He said source nitrate concentrations in the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers have remained high (about 16–17 mg/L), requiring blending and treatment at the plants to maintain finished-water nitrate levels below the 10 mg/L maximum contaminant level; the last reported finished-water figure was just over 9 mg/L.

Rudy said the duration of the ban is unknown and historically nitrate-removal facilities have run into early to mid-July. City staff are running daily irrigation-consumption reports and contacting commercial and large-irrigation account holders and landscape companies to shut off irrigation where required. Notices posted to properties advise that noncompliance could result in water shutoff, a $30 reconnection fee and municipal infraction fines (transcript referenced a $750 fine for a first offense and $1,000 for a subsequent offense). Staff said they will follow enforcement processes if necessary and thanked residents for compliance to date.