Electricity and Water Consumption Hit Record Levels in Extreme Heat

Ames city officials are asking people to conserve energy and water as useage records were broken at both utilities during this week's extreme heat.

Tuesday the city pumped 9.45 million gallons in a single day and Wednesday the city reported a record electricity useage of 130 megawatts.

The former records were 9.38 million gallons per day set in August 2010 and 128.6 megawatts of electricity used July 19, 2011.

While the water record is a measure of the water used in a single day, the electric useage is a measure of the total power being used in the city at one time. The record-breaking electric useage is especially important because new peaks increase the amount of electrical capacity needed. Regulations require the city of Ames Electric Services to furnish 106 percent of the historic peak demand through its own plant or purchases from the grid.

The water useage is less of a concern from a capacity standpoint since the city expects to build a bigger water treatment plant.

However most of the water used on Tuesday probably went toward watering lawns said John Dunn, director. The city's daily useage averages around 6 million gallons.

“We are not asking people to stop watering their lawns,” Dunn said.

But they are asking people to think about how they are doing it. Lawns need only about an inch of water per week to remain healthy. People should also water in the early morning or late at night to prevent evaporation and ensure that sprinklers are not watering sidewalks because that's water and money that goes straight down the drain.

The extreme heat and dry conditions have also begun to affect the Skunk River and a pool of water the city maintains near River Valley Park. That pool is used to manipulate the water table which in turn maintains levels in the city's downtown water aquifer.

Wednesday's rain won't be enough to replenish the pool to normal levels so the city plans to begin pumping water from the lakes at into a ditch that will flow into the river and refill the pool.

Dunn called the pumping the early steps of a drought management response.