Huntley Water Conservation Working As Sun City Forebears

More than a week after the Village of Huntley announced it would begin ticketing for watering restriction violations, it hasn't had to give any out.  An accompanying appeal to residents to stop watering lawns appears to have worked.  "We're doing pretty well with everyone's cooperation," said Village Manager Dave Johnson Monday.

Huntley water use has dropped around 1 million gallons per day from high volumes earlier this month.  "Yesterday was 3.2 million gallons," said Johnson.  "Last week we had 2.8 million."

Recent rainfall's probably helped the conservation effort.  National Weather Service figures show July rainfall actually totaled almost average,  3.5 inches for the month.  That was enough to give a nice boost to scruffy stuff like quackgrass but it didn't do much for more desirable turfs like bluegrass and fescue. Area precipitation remains more than 7 inches below normal for the year.

Huntley's appeal for water conservation brought complaints from some residents that it conflicted with Sun City regulations requiring verdant lawn maintenance.  "We've got a copy," said Johnson "and it reads 'consistent with neighbors' lots'.  These days that would probably be brown," he said.

Sun City Community Association Executive Director Bill Monday Pennock confirmed his homeowners' group won't penalize residents for not watering their lawns.  "We're going to be reasonable," he said.  "We're not going to punish anyone in the worst drought in five or six decades."  That doesn't mean Sun City residents can forget about their lawns altogether, though, Pennock added.  "We're still concerned about (lawn) height," he said.

While Huntley hasn't given out any actual watering tickets yet, Johnson still held the possibility in reserve.  So far this summer, "We've given out about 50 warning tickets," he said.