BOZEMAN – The city of Bozeman will enter stage 2 drought restrictions beginning July 16th.
City government officials adopted a drought action plan in response to the “flash drought” of 2017 and this plan is broken down into 4 categories.
Stage 1 is a drought watch. Water conservation is encouraged.
Stage 2 is a drought advisory. Mandatory outdoor watering restrictions begin. A reduction of 20% in water usage is the goal. A city wide watering schedule will be released. No watering between 10am and 6pm.
Stage 3 Drought Warning. Lawn watering ban is in effect. Reduction of 30% is the goal.
Stage 4 Drought Emergency. Water is rationed for essential use only.
The Bozeman city commission declared a Stage 2 drought Tuesday evening. This calls for mandatory outdoor watering restrictions to begin on July 16th.
The goal is to reduce total system wide water usage by 20%. Lawn watering is limited to two days per week and is prohibited between 10am and 6pm.
Single residential properties with odd-numbered addresses: Water on Saturday and Wednesday.
Single residential properties with even-numbered addresses: Water on Sunday and Thursday.
All other (commercial, industrial, government) Water on Tuesday and Friday.
NO watering on Monday.
According to the Water Conservation Manager Jessica Ahlstrom 50% of the city-wide water use goes to watering lawns. Reducing lawn watering to two days a week will help sustain existing water supplies in order to meet the needs of essential uses throughout the summer.
There are 3 main water supply sources and include Hyalite Creek, Sourdough Creek, and Lyman Spring. These streamflow's and reservoir levels in Bozeman’s municipal watershed are currently below normal.
NE Gallatin county is currently in the EXTREME drought category.
If conditions continue to worsen and Stage 3 drought is declared, a lawn watering ban would go into effect and additional outdoor watering restrictions would likely by put into place.
