Area water districts advise customers to limit water use

WALLACE — Customers with the East Shoshone County Water District are going to need to be a little more selective with their water use for the time being.

Representatives with the district have asked that their customers avoid outside irrigation during the heat of the day, especially the days when the temperatures reach 90 degrees or higher.

“Our plant is having to work a little overtime, and it’s not getting a break because everybody is watering and the temperatures are high,” a representative from ESCWD told the News-Press. “The creek isn’t at its maximum and we want our reservoirs to remain at optimum levels for fire suppression if needed.”

However, those concerned customers residing in Silverton, Wallace, Burke and Mullan can still water their lawns and gardens, but they need to do so in the cooler evening hours of the day where the water use will be more efficient.

At this point, the district isn’t planning for any sort of set-in-stone water restrictions, but hopes its customers will respect their wishes so nothing like that has to be set and/or enforced.

“We just want people to be alert and conscious of the water that they’re using,” the ESCWD representative said. “It’s only July, things could change in a few weeks, but at this point we don’t know.”

The ESCWD draws the bulk of the water in its reservoirs from Placer Creek, but it maintains three different plants that supply water to the four major communities on the east end of the Silver Valley.

For more information, stop by and visit the East Shoshone County Water District at 606 Cedar St. in Wallace, or by phone at 208-752-1174.

The Pinehurst Water District also requested its customers take a more conservative approach to their water use with a notice on recent bills, citing the extreme heat as a reason to stop any unnecessary or excessive water use.

It can be reached at 508 S. Division St. in Pinehurst, or by phone at 208-682-3611.

The Central Shoshone County Water District, which serves Kingston-Cataldo, Smelterville, Kellogg and Osburn hasn’t put out anything official, but is asking for people to be conscious of their water usage.