LEE'S SUMMIT, MO (KCTV) -
Update: Lee's Summit is now allowing for some use of lawn sprinklers and irrigation systems.
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Earlier:
Residents and businesses in Lee's Summit are under mandatory water restrictions.
The city's water department has crews patrolling Lee's Summit streets looking to warn violators. The water restrictions will remain in place until city officials believe the city has sufficient water reserves in place. Residents who have sprinklers out are being reminded of the restrictions even if they aren't using the sprinklers.
Lee's Summit Mayor Randy Rhoades issued an emergency proclamation enacting the mandatory restrictions because the city is faced with a significant reduction in its water supply. This is the first such restrictions since 1996.
Water customers have been told not to water their lawns with sprinklers or other soaking devices due to increased water demands, decreasing storage levels, and the failure of a major Kansas City supply line.
"The sequence of events has been very unusual, very outside the norm," said Mark Schaufler, director of water utilities for Lee's Summit.
Water supplies are critically low and the order is necessary to ensure an adequate amount of water supply remains available for domestic needs and fire protection, the city said in a news release.
Lee's Summit has contracts to purchase 21.5 million gallons a day from suppliers, but has only been provided about 16 million gallons per day while water demand has remained at approximately 20 million gallons per day. This occurred after a pump station in Kansas City failed.
Click here to read previous coverage.
According to Lee's Summit, the following measures are in place:
- Lawn watering is prohibited. All sprinkling and soaking devices are not allowed.
- Persons violating this policy shall be warned one time and advised of the policy. If the violation occurs after the warning, water may be shut off and a reconnect fee shall be charged and property owner punished in accordance with Section 1-13 of the Code of Ordinances.
- The water shortage procedure will be in effect for an indefinite period of time.
City officials have informed residents to not leave hoses or faucets running or use soaker hoses. If necessary, the city says to water plants, trees and landscaping using a hand-held watering can or with a hose that has a hand-operated trigger mechanism.
City officials said the hot and dry conditions had led to soaring demand over the past week. As of Tuesday morning, Lee's Summit had 22 million gallons of water in storage. The city aims to have 20 million gallons.
Once the pump station failed on Tuesday, Lee's Summit acted quickly to stop the untreated water from Kansas City from flowing into Lee's Summit's system. This prevented a boil advisory being enacted, officials said.
Almost immediately after the pump station was repaired on Tuesday, a major water main supplying water from Kansas City to Lee's Summit failed. This wasn't repaired until Wednesday night.
"The combination of these three events resulted in the loss of about half our water supply from Kansas City for approximately 34 hours," Miranda Landstra, a spokeswoman for the Lee's Summit water utilities system. "Our storage levels dipped to a low of 13.5 million gallons on July 4. This morning they were recovered to about 16.5 million gallons, but with the high morning demands, reserves declined back to about 15.9 million gallons by 10 a.m."
Because the city cannot totally anticipate demand, they don't know how long it will take to get the reserves back to 20 million gallons and get the restrictions lifted. Officials say the more people who follow the restrictions the sooner water use can return to normal.
Landstra said car washes and power washes are not included in the restriction. Residents should use a water can or hand-held hose with a trigger mechanism restricting the flow of water to water plants, flowers and other landscaping.
For more on when the mandatory restrictions have been rescinded, click here, or call the city's water utilities department at (816) 969-1900.
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