City Moves to Voluntary Stage for Water Conservation Efforts

Mercer Island is still facing a water shortage due to the Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) water supply line that is out of service. To ensure the City does not need to impose mandatory water restrictions, we are asking the Mercer Island community to make small changes in their daily lives to reduce water use.

We know many community members have started reducing water consumption at home, and the City is grateful for these efforts! However, the warm weather increases water consumption across the Island, and we all need to work together to keep our community safe.

If everyone makes one or two small changes, our collective efforts will help ensure the Fire Department has enough water supply to respond to emergencies this summer.

In addition to following general water conservation practices, the City is asking community members to take additional actions, such as:

• Water plants/yards no more than three times per week:
  • ODD numbered addresses water on Sun/Wed/Fri
  • EVEN numbered addresses water on Tues/Thurs/Sat
• Water early (before 10:00am) or late (after 8:00pm) in the day to reduce evaporation
• Let your lawn go dormant (brown)
• Postpone new planting until the fall when rain provides plenty of water for plant establishment
• Minimize vehicle washing
• Minimize refilling swimming pools and hot tubs
• Reduce shower time by two minutes
• Turn off water features, such as fountains

Additional water reduction measures can be found here.

You can monitor the City’s real-time water usage on our Water Usage Dashboard.

The City will keep the community updated about our progress and provide several days’ notice if water conservation guidance changes.