Though showers brought cooler temperatures Tuesday, they did little to ease near-drought conditions as full watering bans continued in at least two northwest suburbs.
As spectacular as they were at times, Monday`s thunderstorms dropped less than a half-inch of rain on the area, according to the Central Weather Service.
So, watering bans remain in effect in Prospect Heights and Lake In The Hills. Both communities depend on wells for water, and both adopted sweeping bans on outside water usage last week.
Prospect Heights` sprinkling ban extends even to public facilities such as parks and golf courses. Laying sod and filling swimming pools also are prohibited.
”I feel very strongly that compared to water in your home for cooking and bathing, I`d put a golf course at the bottom of the list,” said Prospect Heights Mayor Edward Rotchford.
Rotchford said the ban is essential for preserving the water supply, particularly since there`s still the likelihood of a long, hot summer ahead. The ban will be in effect until Sept. 15 or a good, hard, soaking rain, whichever comes first.
”The groundwater is not there,” Rotchford said, noting that water levels have dropped by at least 10 feet since this time last year at the city`s four wells.
Watering permits will be issued to people who previously put down sod. Residents also will be allowed to water gardens and shrubs from 6 to 10 p.m. every other day, in keeping with previously approved water-use restrictions.
Similarly, Lake In The Hills banned all outside water usage including lawn sprinkling, car washing and filling swimming pools. The village acted after a pump failed at one of its wells.
The ban is expected to be in effect until the pump is repaired, a Lake In The Hills spokeswoman said.
Only 1.27 inches of rain has fallen since July 1, compared with normal precipitation of 2.64 inches by this time in July, according to Central Weather. Year-to-date precipitation is running about 2 inches short of the normally expected 19 inches.
Other northwest suburbs reported usual summer sprinkling restrictions in effect, limiting water use to certain times of the day and, in some communities, to every other day.
But Stephen Sturgell, executive director of the Northwest Water Commission, reported that the system that supplies Lake Michigan water to four northwest suburbs approached its pumping capacity at times during the weekend. A record 48 million gallons of water were pumped on Saturday to Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Palatine and Wheeling, Sturgell said, exceeding a prior one-day record of 47.6 million gallons set in July, 1989.
There were times Saturday when hourly water usage was running at a rate well over 50 million gallons a day, ”and that`s about system capacity, all we can pump in a given hour,” Sturgell said.
Such high usage shouldn`t pose a problem unless something unexpected, such as a pump failure, occurs, Sturgell said.
Meanwhile, the Northwest Suburban Municipal Joint Action Water Agency, which supplies Lake Michigan water to seven other northwest suburbs, reported that while no one-day records have been broken, water usage for all of July is running at a record rate.
Daily water consumption is averaging 49.2 million gallons thus far this month, said Gilbert Greenwood, executive director of the agency. If this rate continues, it would exceed the 1988 record of 47.5 million gallons average daily consumption for July.
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The agency provides water to Elk Grove Village, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Mt. Prospect, Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg and Streamwood.