BOISE – The City of Boise adopted a Drought Emergency Ordinance on Tuesday as a proactive step to protect our local water supply following an unusually warm winter with near record-low snowpack this year. The adopted ordinance outlines a phased response for the city to respond to a drought emergency.
“Clean water is essential for the health and safety of our community,” City of Boise Climate Action Senior Manager Steve Hubble said. “As climate change continues to impact our water resources, it is critical that we have a plan to protect our water supply during drought years.”
The phased response ranges from voluntary guidelines to required watering restrictions for irrigation and recreation. Responses would be activated based on the severity of the drought in accordance with the U.S. Drought Index for Ada County. The ordinance only applies to users of the public drinking water system. Those who use private wells, canal water or have an irrigation provider are not affected.
"Veolia commends the City of Boise for proactively adopting the Drought Emergency Ordinance. We appreciate the framework developed by the city, and believe having such in place prior to any drought crisis is good planning," said David Johns, Regional President of Veolia Idaho. "With summer demand reaching above 90 million gallons a day in our service area - compared to 25 million gallons during winter - we encourage all southern Idaho residents to use water wisely, especially outdoors."
This year’s low snowpack is expected to impact reservoir levels, river flows and water supplies this summer and beyond. For water-saving tips and to stay up to date on the drought ordinance, visit CityofBoise.org/water-conservation.