City of Columbia issues water usage advisory for southwestern Columbia subdivisions

The City of Columbia announced on Wednesday that it’s advising that residents follow a voluntary irrigation schedule in order to avoid a precautionary boil advisory.

Water pressure monitors are showing that water pressure drops in the early morning hours beginning around 4 a.m. subsiding by 6 a.m. According to the release, heavy irrigation system demand combined with regular morning water use is attributed to causing the pressure drop.

Columbia Water & Light is suggesting a voluntary irrigation schedule to stagger the irrigation demand for residents in the Bradbury Estates, Creek’s Edge, Thornbrook, Steeplechase and Wyndham Ridge subdivisions.

Customers are asked to set their irrigation timers according to the schedule below.

The same issue occurred last summer and resulted in a precautionary boil advisory for 600 customers last June. When pressures get below 20 psi, it may cause a backflow, where contaminants could be siphoned into the water distribution system.

Additionally, fire code states that fire hydrants must have a minimum of 20 psi in order to function correctly. The pressure dropped dangerously close to that minimum last summer.

City officials said they hoped a temporary and voluntary staggering schedule will encourage the water usage to drop. They have considered construction more water storage either underground or a water tower. The cost to do a storage solution would cost about $3 million and customers would have to pay for that through their rates.