Fairhope residents asked to voluntarily conserve water & electricity
) - That excessive heat has some people on the Eastern Shore being asked to conserve water and electricity. The City of Fairhope says it’s just voluntary now -- but that could change.
Meanwhile, starting Monday, June 20 -- the splash pad at Fairhope Community Park will be turned off for the day to allow for maintenance and to the Water Department to evaluate the water consumption. Add in the energy usage -- folks can expect it to impact their bills -- Fairhope Public Utilities customers are urged to reduce usage from 1-to-7 p.m. -- turning up the AC, using ceiling fans, turning off lights in unoccupied rooms.“When you grow up here like I did -- you just forget about it and then it comes back and you’re like -- oh -- this is what humid Alabama in the south is. Lee: We always forget. -- We do forget -- short memories,” said Debra and Jason Schmitt.
“At this time, the Fairhope water system is averaging 1 million more gallons of water per day than a year ago at this time,” said Mayor Sherry Sullivan. “For reference, on June 14th, 2021, the system pumped 7,421,000 gallons compared to the June 14th, 2022, rate of 8,276,000 gallons pumped. The system’s current capacity for service is just over 9 million gallons.”
To this end, beginning Monday, June 20th, the splash pad at Fairhope Community Park will be turned off for the day to allow for maintenance and enable the Water Department to evaluate the consumption of water. As of now, the splash pad will reopen on Tuesday but may have reduced hours. The earliest this could happen is June 27th unless drastic improvement is made. Phases II and II require mandatory compliance for landscaping irrigation, filling of swimming pools, washing of driveways and more.