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Naperville to keep watering regulations

Naperville residents will need to keep a calendar handy as they set summer lawn sprinkling schedules because the city's water conservation ordinance isn't going anywhere.

The city council considered rescinding the rule that lets residents water their lawns only on odd or even days corresponding to their street address. But at a meeting Tuesday night, council members decided unanimously to leave the regulation in place to ensure sufficient water pressure remains for public use and fire protection.

"What we have now is working," council member Paul Hinterlong said. "I don't see a reason to change this, not with what's at stake."

Removing the watering restriction was floated as a way to increase demand and bring in more revenue for the city's water utility.

Council member Robert Fieseler brought up the idea earlier this year when the water utility loaned all its reserves to the city's electric utility, which was facing a $14 million deficit because costs of buying power exceeded expectations.

"We don't really have much of a cushion," Fieseler said Tuesday about the water utility's budget. "We could use a little more money. Potentially, if people had the demand to use (more water) we should go ahead and use it."

Fieseler suggested the city do a trial run this summer without the odd/even watering restriction to see how much demand increases. When he realized he lacked his fellow council members' support, he went along with a voice vote to leave the regulation in place.

Jim Holzapfel, director of public utilities for water and wastewater, told council members the regulation should remain to avoid overtaxing the system that carries water throughout the city and keeps adequate pressure.

If water demand this summer does not bring in enough money, Holzapfel said there are projects within the utility's capital budget that can be delayed or cut to ensure it can pay its bills.

Meanwhile, this is the second month Naperville electric customers will be seeing higher rates to help the electric utility make up its budget deficit. A 6 percent increase effective May 1 raised residential electric rates an average of $4.09 to an average monthly bill of $97.69, and a 7 percent increase planned for May 1, 2015, will further raise rates to an average of $103 a month.

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