The Plains Town Council passed an emergency ordinance at its monthly meeting at City Hall Monday evening in an effort to conserve water during this long period of drought.

Council members discussed the situation for a short time before voting unanimously to pass the first reading of the “Emergency Ordinance and Ordinance to Adopt Procedure to Reduce Water Use During Emergency Conditions.”

According to the ordinance, written by the town’s attorney, Richard Gebhardt, the town has experienced extraordinary demand on its water supply, capacity and reserve brought on by the drought. Even though it was just the council’s first reading — the second reading will be at the September meeting — the ordinance went into effect immediately, said Mayor Dan Rowan, who added that he and council had been discussing the water situation for about a month. The document will be posted on the Plains website and Facebook page, at City Hall, and at the post office. A person in violation of the ordinance could be fined $500. The ordinance was created as an emergency measure to alleviate any water shortage problem. 

Town officials tried a voluntary water restriction program on July 19, but Rowan doesn’t believe residents had decreased usage enough to make a difference. The water demand decreased minimally and served to increase the need to require mandatory reduction in nonessential use of water supply. “Some of the town’s water users have voluntarily followed the suggestions given, unfortunately it wasn’t enough of a reduction to significantly reduce overall consumption,” the mayor said.

The ordinance stated that the town is unable to meet the continuing high demand for water. It added that the pumps from its two wells have been operating beyond their design capacity. “The problems our neighbor Thompson Falls experienced with its pump failure has heightened our sense if awareness of the possibility and implications of pump failure,” said Rowan Monday night. The decision to include the emergency ordinance on the council agenda was based on recommendations from the town engineer, Shari Johnson, and Plains Public Works operator Greg Dicken. One of the concerns is to have enough water on hand in the event of a fire in town. “The tank not being able to refill at night means that all water use could be affected, particularly any firefighting efforts,” said Rowan.

Restrictions call for addresses with odd numbers to irrigate lawns on odd numbered days, and those with even numbers to irrigate on even days. In addition, the guidelines call for watering to be done 5-11 a.m. or 5-11 p.m. and only once a day.

“The town is taking this issue very seriously,” said Rowan. He added that the police will be looking for violators. “Warnings will be given initially, fines will be levied for repeat offenders,” he said. He also said the measure was taken in the best interest of the community. The restrictions will be lifted when the situation changes. It will not require another action by the council to lift the restrictions, according to the mayor. 

The council discussed the recent rain, but Rowan said that even though it was nice to get the rain, he doesn’t believe the it was enough to change the situation significantly.

Rowan said the restrictions apply only to irrigation, such as the watering of lawns, and don’t apply to drinking or bathing. It also doesn’t address the washing of vehicles, but he said he hopes people would use common sense.