Ilion mayor lifts water emergency
After three weeks in an emergency water conservation mode, Ilion Mayor Mark Cushman on Wednesday lifted the emergency and mandatory declaration for users of Ilion's water district.
Cushman said although conditions have improved enough to lift the declaration, the village is not out of the woods yet.
"I can't stress enough how important it is to still conserve water," said Cushman.
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He said the village is asking for residents and all water users in the community to monitor their water usage and to conserve on a voluntary basis.
Trustee and the village's Emergency Management Coordinator John Stephens said the village is stepping down from the mandatory conservation in stages.
"We'll bring things back down in steps, from mandatory to voluntary, just like we increased in steps, from voluntary to mandatory," said Stephens.
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"We're not back to 100 percent yet." said Stephens. "We are recovering slowly, no not as rapidly as we would like."
Users of Ilion's water district include residents in Ilion and the towns of German Flatts and Frankfort.
The village currently uses three reservoirs to supply water throughout the district, Reservoirs One, Two and Three. Collectively, the three hold 236 million gallons of water.
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The reservoirs are fed by a series of streams, which were dry over the last part of the summer due to the lack of rain.
Stephens said the feeder streams are now flowing from the recent rains and are now refilling the reservoirs.
Daily water consumption in the water district averages between 1.3 and 1.5 million gallons used.
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Trustee Thomas Bechard said the village board originally made the declaration to put the village in line with the state.
Bechard said although pumps were recently running in Moyer Creek, the pumps were only being tested and not being used to transport water.
Cushman said if conditions begin to deteriorate again, the village will have to revert to the mandatory conservation.
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"It will be strictly enforced if we have to," said Cushman.
"We're on the rebound and people have to be sensible," added Stephens.