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Mayor urges council to keep watering ban in place

Photo by KEVIN HOWE

Karen Conroy demonstrates how she usually spends her Sunday evenings from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm hand watering her yard and flower beds with her two dogs, Dudley (on grass) and Oliver (on porch).

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TBO.com

Published: May 19, 2009

Updated: 05/19/2009 07:47 pm

TAMPA - Mayor Pam Iorio is urging the City Council to keep a lawn-sprinkling ban in effect until more water flows into the Hillsborough River reservoir, the main source of the city's drinking water.

In a memo to council members Tuesday, Iorio said the recent rains have helped, but that more is needed.

The rains have caused the reservoir to rise to 20.6 feet and the flows coming into the river to reach 35 millions gallons per day, almost doubling recent daily accumulations.

In her memo, she said the sprinkling ban should not be lifted until the level reaches 21 feet and the flows reach 60 million gallons per day.

"Going forward, the best way to decide when water restrictions should be eased is by the level of our reservoir and the rate of flow in the river," she wrote. "This is an approach that is scientific in nature, not subjective."

The City Council is scheduled to vote Thursday on a proposal to ease the ban to allow watering twice a month.

The ban has saved 420 million gallons and prevented the reservoir from dipping to levels that could potentially contaminate drinking water, she wrote.

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