Central Iowa Water Works has announced commercial irrigation and lawn watering can resume today as part of the phased exit from the Stage III lawn watering ban that began June 12. Commercial customers are asked to follow the region’s lawn watering schedule: Even numbered addresses on Sunday, Wednesday or Friday. Odd numbered addresses on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday. No watering on Monday. Residential watering was allowed to resume on July 22. The CIWW technical committee voted to proceed with the phased exit based on nitrate
concentration in the authority’s water sources and low customer demand as a result of
frequent rain showers, a news release said. “In making this decision, the Technical Committee
analyzed and studied the most recent nitrate trends, production capacity throughout the system and current water demand, which includes residential lawn watering,” Tami Madsen, executive director of CIWW, said in a prepared statement. “The water quality challenge we have been facing this summer is stabilizing. We thank water customers region-wide for complying with the lawn-watering ban and for continuing to follow the even-odd watering schedule and other conservation guidance once restrictions were lifted. These efforts support moving to the next phase.” The last step of the phased exit is to resume watering for local governments and schools.