Aqua taps city water line to boost pressure

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Aqua Indiana announced Wednesday afternoon it would tap into the City of Fort Wayne's water supply to help boost water pressure for its customers in Aboite Township.

The utility issued a press release indicating that voluntary conservation efforts have not been enough to reduce demand.  Aqua has asked customers to stop watering lawns until further notice.  

Aqua plans to use water from the City of Fort Wayne to supply about 1,400 customers in an area north of State Road 14 from Hadley to Scott roads. This should reduce demand on the Aqua system and help maintain normal water pressure for Aqua customers system-wide. Neighborhoods targeted to receive city water are Shorewood, Abbey Place, Walnut Creek, Whispering Meadows, Falls of Beaver Creek and Brenton Glens.

Bill Etzler, with Aqua Indiana, said people are not conserving when the water company is asking people to.

"Even though we have asked customers to reduce unnecessary use, sprinkling, washing cars, things of that nature, our requests have pretty much gone unheeded," he said.

Bottom line, Etzler said the main problem is people watering their lawns.

"We've really traced it back to lawn sprinkling, and I've driven by a lot of places in the last two days, and people are still watering."

Customers used 5.2 million gallons of water on Tuesday which is twice as much as what was used last year at this time according to Aqua.

Valves at an already existing connection point will be opened at 9 pm on Wednesday.  Customers receiving the city water may notice cloudiness at first.  The connection will be maintained until further notice.

NewsChannel 15 asked Aqua why it doesn't enforce the water restriction, and Etzler said there's no enforcement mechanism in place. He said Aqua is currently looking into putting some type of enforcement into its policy, and that must also be approved by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

The city of Fort Wayne told NewsChannel 15 it's been in talks with Aqua to help supply water to customers, and hopes this temporary arrangement could open the door for more conversation about making that happen.

Aqua continues to urge customers to report any suspected leak, unusual pools of water or areas that appear to be unusually green and moist. Customers can contact Aqua customer service at 877.987.2782.