River level dictates shorter showers

The city of Anacortes, which sells water to La Conner, is asking customers to conserve water because the Skagit River level has dropped.

On Tuesday the river was flowing at about 7,800 cubic feet per second, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A flow drop below 10,000 triggers a plea to the public to voluntarily cut back on water use.

“It’s hard to forecast when the request will be lifted,” said Matt Reynolds with the city of Anacortes. “We have to wait for rain.”

Skagit Public Utility District, which serves the areas east of La Conner, is also asking customers to cut back by 15 to 20 gallons.

A 1996 agreement between the county, tribes, the state Department of Ecology, municipalities and local water providers requires a public service announcement seeking voluntary conservation whenever the flow rate drops below 10,000 during the summer months, said Kevin Tate, spokesman for the Skagit PUD.

The difference between a 10-minute shower and a 5-minute shower is about 20 gallons, Tate said. A family can save that much “if everyone cuts back a couple of minutes on a shower,” he said.

Anacortes has a much larger allocation of Skagit River water than the PUD, however, because the river is its only source of water, and it supplies big users. Besides serving La Conner, Anacortes also sells treated river water to the oil refineries on March’s Point, which use about 10 million gallons per day — about two-thirds of the water Anacortes treats.

While the Skagit River is not in danger of drying up, the fish that depend on it have a hard time when the water levels drop, Tate said.

“We need enough water in the river for the salmon to come up and spawn,” he said. Also, when the levels get extremely low, the sun can heat the water to temperatures too warm for fish to survive.

Until the rains come again, homeowners can lessen their impact on the river level in several ways. Besides taking shorter showers, people can turn off the water when brushing their teeth, let the lawn die, water plants deeply and less often and fix any leaks around the house.

To help year-round, homeowners can invest in a variety of low-flow devices on the market, including toilets, shower heads, high-efficiency washing machines and dishwashers and kitchen faucets.