- No irrigation except with hand-held hoses or watering cans, limited to 3 days per week and no more than 1/2 inch per week.
- No outdoor use, except for emergency fire suppression or other activities necessary to maintain public health, safety or welfare.
- No refilling of ornamental fountains, ponds, etc.
- No washing of vehicles
- No filling, refilling or topping off operating swimming pools.
- No pressure cleaning of building exteriors.
- No flushing or pressure testing of new mains unless water is recycled.
- Water use for heating and cooling to be reduced to the maximum extent practicable.
- Residential water use terminated for use over 600 gallons/day in a billing period.
So, as a group, the leadership team at the Y has been talking for some time about what we can do to lessen our impact on the shortage and on the environment as a whole, while trying not to reduce the services we're providing to members. The process has been pretty excruciating, as our goal is always to take care to provide you with the services you need. As far back as the fall, we began to talk about what the future might hold for us, and we've put off any decisions simply in an effort to continue to offer the services our members have become accustomed to. There has been some hand-wringing, and actually, some fairly heated discussion what we should do.
This past week, our Aquatics Director meet with a member of the OWASA staff to discuss what possible stage 3 water restrictions might mean to us. He was incredibly cordial and set up for us some scenarios that we may face. Greg Feller took time to go over most all of our operations, explain how the new restrictions might affect what we do and make some suggestions to us.
After much discussion and thought, keeping in mind the balance between what conveniences we like to offer and what is the right thing to do, we've made the following decisions:
- Effective March 3, we'll be ending all towel services at the YMCA, thus eliminating the use of 500 gallons of water per day or 15,000 gallons of water per month from being used. The logic is this: Most everyone who comes for a workout or to swim will wash their clothes when they get home. Currently, water is being used for that wash as well as the towels washed at the Y. Surely each load of wash that members are washing has room for one more towel, thus eliminating the use of 500 gallons of water from being used at the YMCA while not increasing water usage in each home.
- We will install new low-flow showerheads (1.5 GPM) in all showers.
- We may not be able to fill or top-off our pool.
- We may not be able to fill or top-off our whirlpool.
- We may not be able to continue operation of the steamroom.
- Prolonged stage 3 water restrictions may result in suspension of all aquatics operations.
It's completely understandable that we all become accustomed to certain conveniences and that those conveniences become important to us, some in different ways than others. I can tell you that the Y staff works hard every day to serve the community as best we can. Every staff member I come in contact with does what he or she does because there's a belief among us in our mission, and in our goals of serving all of our members. We do it because we want to effect change in the world however we can. Keeping that in mind, these decisions are being made because we believe that they fit in with our mission and goals and can be real ways that the Y can affect change in our community from an ecological standpoint.
As we move forward, we'll be taking a closer look at how we can lighten our impact on the environment in other ways too. We're built on four core values at the Y and one of those is Responsibility. I believe that our responsibility includes being stewards of our planet and community too, and so I for one will champion our efforts to lighten the physical effects we have and hope that you will too.
Again, we're making these moves with the future of our community in mind and look forward to your support and suggestions as we do. Thanks for all you do!
