Lincoln's water usage down as rain keeps falling

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BY ALGIS J. Laukaitis / Lincoln Journal Star

With 8.56 inches in Lincoln as of noon Thursday, turning on a sprinkler to water the lawn would be like pouring gas on a fire.

Normal rainfall for June is 3.51 inches.

“Incredibly, some people are watering their lawns and you wonder why because there’s no need to add additional water to your lawn at this point,” said Judson Byleen, owner of Judson Irrigation.

View Slideshow

(LJS file)

Water-foolish people are clearly in the minority.

Consider this: On Wednesday, the city used about 31 million gallons of water, according to the Lincoln Water System.

On the same date a year ago, Lincoln used 57 million gallons.

So far, daily water use for June has hovered around the 30 million gallon mark.

“We’re using as much now in June as we do each day during the winter,” said John Miriovsky, superintendent of the city’s water production and treatment.

Miriovsky estimated Lincoln is using about 25 percent less water this month compared with a year ago.

The abundance of rain — and the lack of watering — has hurt water revenue.

Margaret Remmenga, business manager for the water system, said revenue usually goes up in April, May and June, when people start to water their lawns and gardens.

Not this year.

“It does impact our revenues, and it’s largely that outside watering has been down,” Remmenga said.

She said it’s too early to predict revenue implications overall, because the rest of the summer could turn hot and dry.

Byleen agreed: “It’s going to get hot and dry. Always has.”

 Despite the rain, Judson’s employees have been busy installing sprinkler systems and responding to callers, asking why their systems have not been turned on yet.

“It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it,” Byleen said.

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.