Del-Co Water Company asks residents to only water lawns every other day amid drought

DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) -- After initially giving customers a recommended outdoor watering schedule to follow due to increased demand on their system, Del-Co Water Company has made the every other day schedule mandatory. 

“What has happened is the demand on our system is even greater than it was three days ago," said Jeffrey Kauffman, communications director for Del-Co Water Company.

The company recently asked customers to follow what they called a recommended outdoor watering schedule with the hopes water use would decrease and there'd be less demand on the system, but usage increased. Twenty-three million gallons were used on Monday and 24 million gallons were used the next day, according to Kauffman.

“What’s changed is the amount of water that continues to be used for irrigation," Kauffman said. 

Del-Co Water Company, which has about 56,000 customers, said the schedule is now mandatory. 

"The urgency is that we need customers to follow these recommendations and if our customers aren't able to do this then we run the risk of depressurizing certain parts of our system," Kauffman said. “We were hoping the voluntary measures were enough and they were not. And so there’s more sense of urgency now.”

Kauffman said customers' decisions to follow the schedule can make a significant difference.

“If you figure 12 million gallons of water that Del-Co produces is being put on the lawns if we can just reduce that number by two or three million gallons it is going to go a long way for us to lessen the strain on the system," he said.

Under the schedule, odd numbered homes are to water on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays while even numbered homes are supposed to water on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Kauffman said while this is difficult to enforce, the company hopes neighbors will remind neighbors of the schedules. It is in effect until Oct. 1.

"If our customers follow this schedule then we will be in great shape and we will not be at risk at all of depressurizing our system," he said.