Viewer Spots City Filling Pools After Call For Voluntary Conservation
In one of the worst droughts El Paso has seen in more than a century, water has become even more of a premium here in the borderland.
This has prompted early-action from those who control the flow of water in the Sun City.
”El Paso Water Utilities is encouraging people across this community to conserve water now. It’s strictly voluntary. But if we all abide by the voluntary reduction in the water we use, we can avoid mandatory restrictions later on,” said El Paso Water Utilities spokesman Martin Bartlett.
But while the water utility is asking for residents to cut back, an ABC-7 viewer Tracey caught a City of El Paso pool being filled and cried foul.
“I noticed several workers out at Nations Tobin Park pool where it looks like they’re about to fill the pool for the summer. I’m wondering why they can’t wait until this current water crisis has passed since we are all being asked to voluntarily conserve water. This should apply to the city as well,” Tracey wrote in an email.
ABC-7 spoke with a City administrator who didn’t want to go on camera who said that they are aware of the water conservation requests, but that Memorial Day weekend is coming up they are looking out for the kids and want to provide a place for them to swim and cool down in the hot weather.
Since the call to conserve water is just a request, technically the pool wasn’t breaking any rules.
Even though the City was filling pools in preparation for the holiday weekend, that doesn’t mean they aren’t taking action to conserve water around the area.
Bartlett said that City park watering schedules have been reduced to help keep daily usage numbers low.
But water officials said if area residents want to prevent further restrictions on pools and other water activities, they have to start acting now.
“If we were to go into mandatory water restrictions in the coming weeks and coming months, there is a very real possibility that swimming pool refills could be disallowed. But they are not disallowed in the situation we are in currently,” said Bartlett.
