Summer water restrictions begin June 1 in Rapid City

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Beginning June 1 and continuing through the end of August, don’t run your sprinkler system between 9 a.m and 6 p.m.

Homes with even-numbered addresses will be allowed to use sprinklers on even-numbered days while homes with odd-numbered addresses can irrigate on odd-numbered days. However, no sprinkler usage will be allowed on July 31 or August 31. These are the regulations used under normal status conditions. People can still water by use of a handheld hose or bucket, watering can, or other container without restriction.

There are four levels of water conservation measures: normal, concern, alert and critical. These statuses are determined by the water level in Pactola Reservoir.

Rapid City Water Superintendent Eric Boyda said people can further conserve water by keeping an eye on the weather.

“Always irrigate based on the conditions of your lawn. If there’s been a recent rain event, there’s no reason to irrigate. You can set up... there’s some devices if you have an automatic sprinkler system that will measure recent precipitation and skip your cycle if you don’t need it,” Boyda said.

This regulation on irrigation was implemented in the 1990s in order to avoid evaporation in the hottest periods of the day and reduce the amount of infrastructure needed to support water usage demands. Since then, there has been a decrease of daily water usage per person of more than 30 gallons.

For more information on the city’s water restrictions, check out the Rapid City Water website.

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