Grand Valley Transitions to Mandatory Water Restrictions Today

Lookout Western Colorado, we're no longer on Voluntary Water Restrictions. As of today, Tuesday, August 21, the Grand Valley is moving to Mandatory Water Restrictions. What exactly does this mean?

This transition affects all City of Grand Junction water customers using City water for their lawns. If it means anything, you're not alone. This also affects City of Grand Junction facilities, as well as Lincoln Park and Tiara Rado golf courses, and even Grand Junction parks.

You've probably seen mention of the "3-2-1" watering schedule making the rounds on social media. Put simply, the next three months are to unfold as follows:

• August - water three times per week
• September - water two times per week
• October - water one time per week

According to GJCityNews, this watering schedule will conserve water and assist turf to prepare for winter.

This brings me to my first and only question. Is anyone in Grand Junction currently watering their lawn more than three times per week? Personally, in the 17 years I've owned my house, I've never, under any conditions, watered my lawn more than twice a week. My timer is set at 35 minutes per zone. To break it down, I water my lawn for 35 minutes twice per week. That seems plenty. My lawn won't be on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens anytime soon, but it's certainly healthy and looks presentable.

At the moment I'm babysitting a friend's house. His lawn in magnificent. I checked the timer on his sprinkling system. His is set to water twice a week as well.

Precisely how much potable water are we going through per day in Grand Junction? According to GJCityNews, the City of Grand Junction serves roughly 9,700 water accounts, delivering approximately nine million gallons per day during irrigation season. That number drops to three million gallons per day during non-irrigation season.

Strangely, just as this mandate is sent down from the City, we are finally enjoying a little bit of rain. My lawn received roughly 15 minutes worth of rain late last night. As of this very moment, 11:20 a.m. on Tuesday, August 21, it just started raining again.

It looks like our lawns get a reprieve today with the National Weather Service calling for a 40% chance of rain with a high of 85. That's far better than the 0% chance of rain with a high of 100 we've been experiencing the last few weeks.

The restrictions mentioned above are to remain in place throughout the remainder of the irrigation season unless stated otherwise. These measures seem reasonable, especially since it seems most people, or at least most people I know, have observed them all season.