There wasn’t much rain in July, as usual – but it wasn’t dry enough to result in voluntary water restrictions in Yachats.
Yet.
Elsewhere in Lincoln County, the city of Toledo and the Seal Rock Water District are now asking customers to voluntarily limit their water use because of near-record low levels of the Siletz River, where both get their water.
In Waldport, the city has asked residents to watch their water use, but flows in the two streams where the city gets its water are adequate so far, according to city manager Dann Cutter.
In Yachats, the flows in the city’s two water sources – Reedy and Salmon creeks – needs to drop below 275 gallons per minute for the city to ask for voluntary conservation. It’s currently at 399 gallons per minute, water treatment plant supervisor Rick McClung said Monday.
“We’re doing pretty good compared to some others,” he said, but forecasted Stage 1 restrictions in 2-3 weeks if there is no substantial rain.
As usual, demand is peaking on the weekends when more tourists are in town, McClung said, using up to 250,000 gallons a day. The city’s treatment plant can produce 450,000 gallons a day and there are tanks with a total storage capacity of 1.7 million gallons.
July rainfall in the Yachats area ranged from .06 to .15 inches, according to the city’s official gauge and measurements by three longtime local weather watchers.
The automatic gauge at the city’s wastewater treatment plant measured .14 inches in July, for a seven-month total of 29.74 inches. That is 75 percent of average. The 11-year average for July is .54 inches and has averaged 39.44 for the first seven months of the year.
Adam Altson uses a manual gauge just a block away from the city’s treatment plant and measured .06 inches of rain in July – all falling July 7-8 — and 40.88 inches so far this year.
Jim Adler, who lives three miles up the Yachats River, recorded .15 inches in July and 45.31 inches for the year. Three of the last five years Adler has recorded no rain in July.
Don Tucker, who lives two miles north of Yachats and east of U.S. Highway 101, recorded .15 inches in July and 35.79 inches so far this year.
