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Show L Mandatory restrictions lifted Water rationing stopped r By MARK EDDINGTON Staff Writer LAYTON With May precipitation levels three times higher than normal, the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District has lifted mandatory water restrictions restric-tions in favor of voluntary water conservation measures. District General Manager Ivan Flint said recent storms have increased in-creased the mountain snowpack and water storage in reservoirs to acceptable accep-table levels, allowing for the lifting of restrictions imposed last February. "We plan on providing a 100 percent supply to all culinary, secondary and agriculture contracts. The key is that water users must voluntarily conserve water and I think they will," Flint said. When the mandatory restrictions were imposed, the district specified secondary and agriculture water users would receive 50 percent the normal amount of water. Culinary users, which have the highest priority, priori-ty, were to receive the normal amount. Since restrictions were imposed the district has received 15.90 inches in-ches of rainalmost a third of which came in May and practically stopped agriculture and secondary water use, making it possible f?r Weber Basin to store much more water than was originally anticipated. an-ticipated. Upstream storage levels on the Weber River is at 63 percent of capacity; storage on the Ogden drainages is at 72 percent of capacity. capaci-ty. If Willard Bay is included, then total reservoir storage capacity is at 66 percent, a figure which is still 10 to 15 percent below normal for this time of year but much better than what was projected earlier. District forecasts indicate four possibly more out of seven reservoirs reser-voirs should fill completely, depending depen-ding on future precipitation and flows from the snow melt. Because of abundant snow pack along the upper Weber River and colder than normal temperatures, Flint said there is an outside chance of some flooding if temperatures suddenly increase into the 90s. Hopefully we'll be able to handle the runoff and there won't be much of a problem, he said. Flint said Bountiful Water Sub-conservancy Sub-conservancy District, South Davis Water Improvement District, West Bountiful City, Centerville Deuel Creek Irrigation Company and Kays Creek Irrigation Company will join Weber Basin in replacing SEE WATER ON A-2 Water CONTINUED FROM A-l mandatory restrictions with voluntary volun-tary measures. Water users are being asked to restrict outdoor watering to the extent ex-tent possible between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on secondary systems unless there are unusual circumstances such as a new lawn. Flint said district water users have been good to comply with the mandatory restrictions and he is confident they will continue to practice prac-tice water conservation on a voluntary volun-tary basis. District officials said the lifting of watering restrictions was something that could never have been anticipated just a short time ago, but a reassessment of the water situation in the wake of recent storms showed a dramatic improvement im-provement in the overall water situation. "We have received much more snow and precipitation than expected ex-pected since making our (original) decision on what could be delivered this season. A number of unexpected unex-pected storms have provided a great amount of moisture and allowed us to store considerably more water than we expected," Flint said. |