While Huntley isn’t banning outside watering, officials are asking residents to think about conservation in light of the huge volume of water — 5 million gallons on one day alone this week — that is being pumped.
The village determines that the base amount of daily water use — the amount needed for things like laundry — during the winter is 1.5 million gallons, Public Works Director Jim Schwartz said. This week, the village calculated water use between 4.5 million and 5 million gallons daily, he said.
“It’s a tremendous increase in water and it’s all outside usage,” he said.
A bit of rain fell Friday but it did not amount to any significant rainfall. Huntley Major Charles Sass issued a release this week asking residents to limit outside watering.
“The current system can become strained in trying to keep up with the excessive watering due to the heat and lack of rain,” Sass said.
Huntley’s water pumps are running 20 hours a day, he said at Thursday’s Village Board meeting.
“Hopefully everybody will conserve,” Sass said. “The grass isn't dead. The grass will come back to life once we get some rain.”
Outside watering restrictions remain yellow, which allows watering from 6 to 9 a.m. and from 6 to 9 p.m. on odd/even days. Anyone who violates the restrictions faces a ticket with a fine ranging from $50 to $500.
The yellow watering restriction has remained in effect for about six years, Schwartz said. The color levels are green, which means no restriction, yellow and red, which signifies a ban on outside watering, he said.
Huntley is not ready to change the restriction level to red. However, if the hot, dry weather persists, Schwartz worries whether the village’s system will be able to keep up with demand.
Huntley has five deep wells and five elevated storage tanks. The pumps are running about 20 hours a day, he said.
“Operating at the maximum is not a good place to be, it’s like driving your car at full throttle for weeks on end,” he said. “At some point, it will fail you. You don’t want your community water system to fail.”
“If a pumps fails, we will definitely go to red,” Schwartz said.
Next year, Schwartz wants to push for restricting outside water use to two hours in the morning and two hours at night. He also anticipates McHenry County will adopt a countywide watering restriction policy.
Other communities have set restrictions, too. Algonquin went to level yellow last week, he said. Algonquin also has a surcharge rate for water consumption from late May to early September, according to its website. Bill rates are tripled for homes or businesses that use more than 18,000 gallons per month, the site states.
Huntley is doing its part to conserve water. The village has been treating sewage water and running it out to Sun City Huntley for use to irrigate its golf course and common areas.
“We are running over 1 million gallons and using it for irrigation rather than using our potable water system,” he said.
Purifying sewage water to use as potable water is something states dealing with droughts, like California, already have started doing, Schwartz said. The water is treated and safe to drink, people just have to get over the mindset of where the water comes from, he said.
The bottom line is everyone needs to be thinking about water conservation, even if the restrictions is only yellow at this point and Illinois does not have to purify sewage water, he said.
“We have to do something,” Schwartz said. “We can’t continue down this path. The revenues are great but at the end of the day, we do want to conserve water.”
First and foremost, most lawn water ends up in the ground and eventually makes its way back to the aquifers. So, not only does it not get processed at our sewage treatment plants, but it also ends up not being wasted…it gets recycled! The number of Huntley residents that have gone to automatic watering systems has continued to grow every year, as is evidenced by the increasing number of annual sprinkler inspections. Automated sprinklers have been proven to reduce the watering footprint tremendously when compared to traditional watering methods. By their design, they are more effective, more efficient, conserve water, and ultimately save money. Thus, the overall impact on the community’s water system is considerably less than other users during the middle of the year when watering normally becomes prevalent. These systems were purchased by their owners with all of this in mind.
All water conservation talk aside, what seems obvious is that Huntley residents are being forewarned to expect major changes regarding their water usage in coming months and years. The article states that Huntley is already seeking to reduce morning and evening watering times by one hour as early as next year. This is not a big deal, but it’s a start. Huntley’s Public Works Director even drops a hint about what might be coming down the “pipeline” when he mentions McHenry County wanting to adopt countywide restrictions for the near future. So who knows how this will affect Huntley’s rights? But what is alarming is that Huntley already appears to be setting the foundations for charging higher water rates in the future…mainly for those of us who water their lawns. They cite other communities (specifically Algonquin) doing so when water usage increases above certain levels at specific times of the year. They call it a surcharge…but all it really is is a fine. The truth is, water doesn’t cost more at these times; they simply want to discourage watering in general. In the least, we should expect to see a crack-down on the number of citations being handed out if you accidently water outside the allowed time zones or days.
While it is nice to know that purified water (treated from Huntley sewage) is going to some use down at Sun City for irrigation and beautification of its common areas, what does “Huntley doing its part” in this regard really mean? To be honest, it raises more questions than provides answers… For instance, is this being done for free, or does Sun City pay for this? Treated/Purified water is being pumped down to Sun City, but at what rate; 1 million gallons per day? How does Pinecrest Golf Course water its course? Do they get the same priveledge? They have retention ponds for this too. In the end, all Huntley residents pay to have their water treated in the first place. So it would be nice for all Huntley residents to get something out of this, either financially or in beautification of the entire community…not just Sun City.