The City of Grand Forks is asking residential, commercial & industrial water users to limit their outdoor water usage as part of Phase 2 of the City’s Drought Management and Demand Reduction Plan (See below).
Starting Thursday, July 22, 2021, residential water users in odd-numbered homes are asked to limit the watering of their lawns to between 4 am – 11 am on Mondays and Thursdays. Residential water users in even-numbered homes are asked to limit watering of lawns to between 4 am – 11 am on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The city monitors stream flows in our two water sources on a regular basis. The stream flows in the Red Lake River were 222 Cubic Feet per Second (cfs) on July 21st. In May the Red Lake River was flowing at 543 cfs. The Red River had a stream flow of 650 cfs on July 21. In May the Red River was flowing at 1920 cfs.
Even with the rainfall this week, the stream flow numbers continue to incrementally trend down.
Over the past week, the Grand Forks Regional Water Treatment Plant peaked at treating over 16 million gallons of water per day. With the implementation of Phase 1 of our plan, the plant was able to reduce to 11-12 million gallons per day. There is an expectation to increase treatment to 12-14 million gallons per day. The water treatment plant can treat up to 20 million gallons per day.
With the decreased stream flow and a dry and hot forecast, the city felt it was time to move to Phase 2 of our plan.
This is not mandatory. Residents are asked to voluntarily participate in limiting their outdoor water usage as part of Phase 2. The situation will continue to be monitored. Phase 3 of the plan is a mandatory restriction.
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