FUD's Beat the Peak program is Not water rationing
First Utility District provides our water and sewage services. “Beat the Peak” is FUD’s new irrigation program. There is no shortage of water. According to FUD, we have millions of gallons of excess capacity in our water supply. The irrigation program is about being proactive to deal with a potential issue several years down the road regarding transporting water through existing pipes to the farthest points in their system. Specifically the issue was with everyone getting ready in the morning and running their irrigation systems at the same time. FUD noted that, in the past, the majority of their irrigation customers were watering every other day, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday putting pressure on the ability to provide all that water in such a short period of time.
By moving to alternating days based on even and odd address numbers and having your irrigation system off by 5 am or on after 7 am, FUD indicates that they have more than sufficient capacity in our pipes for years to come and most pipes will never have to upgraded to a larger size. The alternative is to spend millions of dollars, disrupt traffic and dig up roads and yards, just to have pipes that are too big 98% of the time.
Here’s a link to a youtube video prepared by FUD to understand this.
First Utility District's GM Bruce Giles Talks about New Irrigation Schedule to "Beat the Peak"!
Regarding our sewage service, FUD charges new development a
sewage capacity fee of $2600/ unit to fund necessary system improvements and
upgrades. With regard to development on
the Choto peninsula the calculated sewage capacity fee is on a case by case
basis.