The Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) entered drought stage two on Monday, June 22, due to decreasing water levels in Hatcher Reservoir and the San Juan River.
Drought stage two imposes a variety of additional restrictions on water use in addition to the restrictions from drought stage one.
Drought stage one restricts irrigation to between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m., requires restaurants to only serve water upon request, and encourages hotels to only replace towels and bed linens on the request of current guests or for new guests.
Drought stage two further limits irrigation to only occur on weekdays while keeping the limitations on irrigation times from drought stage one.
Additionally, odd-numbered addresses can only irrigate on odd-numbered days, while even-numbered addresses can irrigate on even-numbered days.
Drought stage two also lowers the threshold and increases the drought stage multiplier from drought stage one. In drought stage one, water use above 5,000 gallons per month is charged at 1.25 times the normal rate while in drought stage two water use above 4,000 gallons is charged at double the standard rate.
Drought stage two aims to reduce water use by 20 to 30 percent, while drought stage one aims to reduce it by 10 to 20 percent.
Watering edible and ornamental gardens with a hose or through drip irrigation is allowed in both drought stages.
The new irrigation restrictions will go into effect immediately, while the new rate multipliers will take effect on the first day of the next billing cycle.
For more information, see Thursday's issue of The SUN.
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