By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
In an effort to protect one of Hays’ most vital and limited resources, water, summer restrictions will again be put in place within the city beginning June 1.
Before Sept. 30, outdoor water use will be prohibited from noon to 7 p.m. in addition to the year-long restrictions against washing hard surfaces and letting water flow off the property.
“Water conservation is critically important to making sure that when we turn the faucet on, we've got water on tap,” said Hays Police Department Lt. Brandon Wright. “We've had laws in place since, I think, the 1990s, controlling and trying to promote water conservation.
As the enforcement agency of the restrictions, he said the department has escalating penalties for violations.
A first violation will result in a warning. A second will incur a $50 fine, a third will incur a $200 penalty, and further infractions will generate a $250 fine.
“It is not very common for us to get to that point where we're writing those tickets that have a $250 tag on them,” Wright said. “Most of the time, it's resolved way before that. We don't have that happen very often. So, people are overall pretty understanding, I think, once we explain how important it is.”
While educational in nature, the enforcement will be from members of the police department, with Community Service Officers especially looking for violations while on patrol.
“That's one of their primary functions is to look for and address water wasting issues,” Wright said.
While water restriction enforcement comes up daily for the department, Wright said education is their main priority. Still, the ordinance will be enforced as needed.
“Officers don't enjoy writing citations for water wasting,” Wright said. “That's not something that they enjoy doing. But the police department is the primary enforcement agency for making sure that these ordinances are followed.
“Most typical enforcement comes from a contact from one of our police officers or one of our community service officers. It may be an educational stop, but if there's a violation, (we) try to be consistently firm and fair with the enforcement or the ordinance.”
Violations are tracked for 24 months.
For those special use cases, Wright said, permits are issued through the city of Hays.
“I know of a lot of commercial entities that do that for maintenance on their properties, but that's got to be permitted,” Wright said. “So, if you need to do something like that, you've got to contact city hall, the clerk's office, I believe, to look for a permit.”
Restrictions are also applied to those using well water.
Water conservation specialist Holly Dickman said that importance is a feature of the water sources that serve Hays.
“We rely on eluvial aquifers around the Smoky Hill River primarily and Big Creek,” Dickman said. “Those are fairly shallow aquifers. And so, as you might acknowledge, is that when we do not get significant rainfall, then those well levels can decline over time.”
In 2023 the K-State Research and Extension office recorded 3.04 inches of rain for the year, under the average 4.57 inch total. Last year they reported Hays received 7.17 under the average 23.46 inches.
“We are currently in exceptional drought,” Dickman said. “The last time we were in exceptional drought was back in 2012-2013. So just because we get a little bit of rain doesn't mean that we're instantly out of drought. It will take significant rainfall to bring us out of that.”
Long-time conversation efforts helped negate the drought then, meaning the extreme measures in the '90s were not needed.
“Back in the '90s, they were telling people there was no outdoor watering allowed,” Wright said. “Then, they had a program where they were encouraging people not to flush their toilets, the water levels were so low. So, we don't want to ever get back to that place.”
And Dickman said despite limited water resources, Hays remains in great shape thanks to ongoing conservation efforts.
“We are the only municipality with more than 15,000 people that is not located near a sustainable source of water,” she said. “So that's why water conservation is such a big deal here.”
Generally, Hays residents have been receptive to the need, according to Hays Police Department Chief Don Scheibler.
“It has become a way of life for the Hays community,” he said. “The city of Hays has changed the culture on how we conserve water. ... That's been very huge for us. And people understand the rules now, and they're receptive to that. They understand the importance of it, and they support it. So, we do appreciate the community's willingness to comply with these restrictions.”
The fear of the taps running dry, dating back nearly 30 years, spurred those conversations, Dickman said.
“That's when water conservation took off. And speaking to that, we tried to talk to all age groups,” she said. “Speaking to kids through adults, we're talking about it all the time. The city of Hays has become a leader in water conservation because of all those efforts throughout the years.”
It is more than just using less water, she said, as the city actively promotes using water as efficiently as possible through various programs.
“There's a lot more stuff on the (city of Hays) website about other conservation approaches that are just as important or more important,” Wright said.
“If you're saving it, you can use it for something else,” Dickman said.
Those programs include rebates for water smart appliances, low-flow adapters, and turf conversation rebates.
“Fescue lawns, which aren't very well suited to the area, take a lot of water to keep green,” Wright said. “A lot of conversion over to warm season grasses are going on and from that to the low-flow toilets and faucets, and all of those things. There's lots of stuff on the website about water conservation as a whole.”
With the success of Hays programs, other cities are turning to Hays as an example of using water efficiently.
“Other municipalities are coming to us now for advice,” Dickman said. “That's always a good thing. It just goes to show how, since the early '90s, we've been focused on this, and it really has paid off.
“A lot of the history and the questions about some of those topics, watersmarthays.com kind of goes into some of that, as far as our rebate programs linked to the financial side of things with our water rates and those sorts of things. Watersmarthays.com is a good starting point to answer some of those questions. And, of course, people can always contact me if they have further questions or are interested in some of the rebate programs.”
And even with recent developments in the R9 Ranch water project that will bring an additional water source into Hays, conservation will remain a focus in the Hays community.
“The R9 Ranch provides a lot more possibilities that will help us, but our way of conserving is not going to diminish, and we're not going to change anything there,” Dickman said. “We're always going to take that seriously. But it will provide the additional water source will provide a lot of opportunities that we can't pursue now.”