Water Conservation Tools

[dhelmke]

An excellent resource for reminding water system customers to be mindful of climatological conditions is the U.S. Drought Monitor.  Information specific to Kansas is available here:  http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/DM_state.htm?KS,HP

If you live in a county near the state boundary, you may want to start with the High Plains Region (http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/DM_highplains.htm), the South Region (http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/DM_south.htm), the West Region (http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/DM_west.htm) or the Midwest Region (http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/DM_midwest.htm).

A nice page showing a map and data of the Kansas conditions is available (http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/pdfs/ks_dm.pdf) for posting.

[dhelmke]

By the way, things look pretty good in Kansas at the moment.  Parts of northern Oklahoma are experiencing Moderate Drought and large parts of Texas continue to experience Exceptional Drought (the worst category).

[dhelmke]

Seventeen Kansas counties have some or part of their area listed as being "Abnormally Dry", on the Drought Monitor this week.  Two of those counties have small areas classified as experiencing "Moderate Drought".  While the area of Abnormally Dry and Moderate Drought have decreased state-wide, the classification for Moderate Drought hasn't appeared in Kansas since at least May 5, 2009.

[dhelmke]

I found a new tool for water systems to use to reduce waste (and decrease unnecessary sewage flows for wastewater systems) yesterday.  While visiting the City of Hiawatha, I found on their customer service counter a Home Water-Saving Kit, the Leak Detective Daily.  A small brochure that looks like a miniature newspaper, which can be customized to include logos and/or a water system's name, describes how a customer can determine if their toilet is leaking and costing them money.  The brochure gives instructions on how to use the accompanying dye tablets to test toilet tank leakage.

I don't know the cost of the brochures (standard or customized) and tablets, nor is this an endorsement.  Decide for yourself if this is something that might benefit your water system.  The company's webpage for this particular product is:  http://www.brightdyes.com//products/leakdetective.html