PORT ANGELES — Drought-related Stage 3 restrictions on “nonessential” water uses within the Port Angeles city limits were imposed beginning Wednesday.
City Council members imposed the restrictions at their regular meeting Tuesday on a 6-0 vote. Councilman Lee Whetham was absent.
The limits require residents who live at odd-numbered addresses to conduct outdoor watering only on odd-numbered dates and those who live at even-numbered addresses to water only on even-numbered days.
In addition, lawns, ground cover and other outdoor plants cannot be watered between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. or on any day not authorized under the odd-day, even-day rotation schedule.
The restrictions also prohibit washing by direct hosing of paved areas such as sidewalks, driveways, parking lots and patios.
Also prohibited is the noncommercial washing of vehicles, trailers and boats except from a bucket or a hose that has a shutoff nozzle.
Commercial car washes can stay in operation, Craig Fulton, public works and utilities director, said Wednesday.
Those businesses use recycled water, he said.
Fulton said Wednesday that the Elwha River, from which the city draws its drinking water, was flowing at 246 cubic feet per second (cfs) Wednesday morning.
That’s about one-quarter the river’s average for Aug. 5.
“We usually see these [flows] in late September,” Fulton said.
He said the restrictions are needed to protect fish habitat and that the city “absolutely” has enough drinking water.
Businesses that employ outdoor watering have been high users.
“When I do talk to businesses, they are very responsive to adjusting their watering,” Fulton said Wednesday.
Business owners and residents can expect to see door-hanger notices telling them of the restrictions over the next week, Fulton said.
“It will take a week to get them all out,” he said.
“We expect compliance within a week.”
In his report to the City Council, Fulton said there are indicators of increased stress in juvenile salmonids in the estuary ponds next to the mouth of the Elwha River.
Temperatures in those ponds have been as high as 24 degrees Celsius, or about 5 degree Celsius higher than is normally seen in these areas, even in late August, he said.
“Temperatures in the mainstream are elevated as well for this time of year, but not to the same extent as the estuary ponds,” Fulton said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
