Heat tests cities’ water systems
Municipal water use is soaring with the recent spell of hot weather.
Post Falls set a new record for water consumption during the sweltering week of July 17-23. Coeur d’Alene water department officials are seeing some of the highest water use in city history, including record levels Monday.
More than 85 million gallons of water were pumped from Post Falls wells last week, for an average of more than 12 million gallons a day, said Terry Werner, the city’s public works superintendent. That beats the previous one-week record, set last summer, of more than 77 million gallons.
“We’ve still got some problems with some people not following the guidelines,” Werner said, referring to a city ordinance that bans outdoor water use in Post Falls between noon and 6 p.m.
The city’s fast-growing population and sizzling temperatures last week led to water being pumped in mass quantities, Werner said. Still, Post Falls remained below its weekly pumping capacity of 98 million gallons, he added.
Coeur d’Alene also pumped about 85 million gallons of water from its wells last week.
On Monday, when the National Weather Service said it was 100 degrees, the city pumped about 31.8 million gallons. That was “one of the highest we’ve seen,” said Terry Pickel, water department assistant superintendent. Coeur d’Alene’s daily pumping capacity is only about 5 million gallons more than what was pumped Monday, Pickel said.
While the city was able to keep up with demands for water, Pickel said the department was still busy trying to fix equipment that malfunctioned.
“We were running around keeping things going,” he said of a booster station on Stanley Hill that blew a fuse. The boosters are used to help pump water in higher elevations of the city.
The problem wasn’t because of how much water was being pumped but because of the heat, he said. “It got a little too warm for them.”
A secondary pump at the station kicked in and was able to handle the load until water department crews were able to replace the fuses, he said.
Pickel also said that pumping at Blackwell Island was very high Sunday, which meant the city had to “turn the pump up a bit.”
Coeur d’Alene’s rebate program, which gives people credit for buying any of several water-saving devices they can use at home, is starting to get a bit more popular, Pickel said. He said he takes one or two calls a day from residents interested in learning more about the potential savings.
“We’re getting a lot of info out there, especially through word of mouth,” he said.