7.26.03 M.U.D. calls Level 1 Water Alert The Metropolitan Utilities District will call a Level 1 Water Alert effective 4 p.m., Saturday, July 26. We pumped 196 million gallons of water on Friday, July 25, and project a pumpage of 213 million gallons today. Our pumping capacity is 234 million gallons per day. The all-time high water use was June 25, 1988 when customers used 223 million gallons of water. The utility is asking water customers to voluntarily begin watering on odd/even days to reduce outdoor water use and allow M.U.D. to fill its reservoirs and keep up with demand during this dry spell. If your address ends with an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7, 9), water on the calendar day of the month ending in 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9. If your address ends with an even number (2,4, 6, 8, 0), water on the calendar day of the month ending in 2, 4, 6, 8 or 0. In addition, M.U.D. asks customers to voluntarily: Discontinue hosing down driveways; Shut off decorative fountains that do not recycle water, and Refrain from filling swimming pools. The City of Omaha and other municipalities served by M.U.D. are asked to voluntarily comply with odd/even day watering restrictions, curtail sewer flushing, lake filling, fire fighting drills, street washing and other non-essential uses of water. Because of public health issues, the City of Omaha will not be asked to discontinue their hydrant parties. Likewise, M.U.D. will keep the fountain at the Walnut Hill Reservoir operating from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. Exceptions from the restrictions may be made for new sod less than three weeks old and other circumstances deemed appropriate by M.U.D. Our priorities are: Public health and safety of our customers, Fire protection. We will continue to monitor and if the reservoir situation does not improve, we will consider going to a Level 2 Water Alert, which includes voluntary non-watering days, designated by M.U.D. A Level 3 Water Alert makes the requests in Levels 1 and 2 mandatory. Customers, who do not comply with the watering restrictions, will be subject to having their water shut off until mandatory restrictions are lifted. M.U.D. provides retail or wholesale water service to more than 176,000 customers in Omaha, Bellevue, Bennington, Elkhorn, Ralston, LaVista, Carter Lake, Waterloo and the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District, which supplies water to Fort Calhoun. Click here for water conservation tips. Click here to go to the top of this page

2004 news 2003 news 2002 news 2001 news Water use July 26 -- 205 mgd July 25 -- 196 mgd Click here for previous water use figures