At the May 14th alliance meeting, Paul Whitmore of Veolia Water passed out copies of a proposed ordinance which will be introduced to the City-County Council on June 5th. This proposed ordinance outlines the future practices of the city-county’s water management during times of water shortages/drought.
As a result of last year’s severe drought, Veolia Water and the Indianapolis Department of Waterworks found it necessary to issue water restrictions; however, no formal procedure or enforcement structure was in place. Therefore, the need for an ordinance became apparent and the public is invited to review and comment on the resulting proposal.
In summary, the ordinance states that Indianapolis Water Company will issue a variety of notices when conditions warrant. Specifically, in order of severity, they may announce: Advisory, Warning or Emergency. With each type of notice, either recommendations or restrictions will apply. In the event of a warning or emergency, mandatory conservation practices will be outlined.
At present, the Department of Waterworks is investigating options for enforcement procedures and Veolia anticipates that there could be a finalized ordinance in place sometime this summer.
Again, the public is asked to review the proposed ordinance and submit feedback. To date, feedback from the City of Noblesville indicates that they are eying the progress of Indianapolis and expect to follow their lead, as the need for such an ordinance became quite evident during the summer of 2007.
The Water Conservation Ordinance is available for review at: http://www.indianapoliswater.com/Assets/PDF/DOW_Draft_Conservation_Ordianance.pdf
Feedback about the ordinance can be submitted to:
Paul Whitmore - paul.whitmore@veoliawaterna.com
Indianapolis Department of Waterworks - Jo Lynn Garing, Director of Communications, 317-263-6398, jgaring@indygov.org
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