Holton's water watch lifted after recent rains

To Public Wholesale Water Supply District 18 officials, the most positive effect felt in the Holton area from recent rains is the significant rise in pool levels at Banner Creek Reservoir.

According to Holton City Manager Bret Bauer, enough rain has fallen in the reservoir’s area to lift the lake level from four feet below normal pool to “somewhere between a foot below normal pool and full capacity,” as Bauer told the Holton City Commission on Monday. As a result, commissioners voted to lift a water watch in place on the city since June of last year.

Under the water watch, city water customers were asked — but not ordered — to cut back on outdoor water use while the lake levels were down. Bauer told commissioners that for PWWSD 18 to issue water restrictions, the lake must be at least three feet below normal pool levels.

For the first three months of the year, the lake level was 48 to 52 inches below normal, according to data provided to commissioners. But between readings taken on April 21 and May 8, the lake level rose by two feet — from 49 inches down on the former date to 25.5 inches down on the latter date.

Another reading taken May 11 showed the lake level had risen even further, standing at 21.5 inches below normal pool. With rains received since then, Bauer noted that the lake level had risen to within a foot of normal — and with more rain on the way this week, he said, it is possible that the level may rise to full capacity.

As a result of the rising lake levels at Banner, Bauer said PWWSD 18 officials will likely discuss lifting their restriction soon, and Jackson County Rural Water District 3 — which, like Holton, purchases water from Banner via the PWWSD 18 treatment plant — will also likely consider lifting its restriction in the near future.

PWWSD 18 issued a voluntary water watch in September of 2013 after lake levels at Banner dropped down to four feet below normal pool level. But since Holton takes its water from more sources than just Banner — including Prairie Lake, which Bauer said was at full capacity on Monday — it was determined that the city would not have to participate in the water watch.

However, dry conditions in recent years prompted the city to issue its own voluntary water watch last June, in conjunction with a water warning issued by PWWSD 18. For Holton customers, a water watch is triggered when the city’s storage falls below 85 percent capacity, groundwater levels are five feet below normal seasonal levels, and/or lake or reservoir elevation is three feet below seasonal level.

At that point, the city encourages its water customers to curtail some outdoor water use and be more efficient with indoor water use, offering tips to cut back on such use. Cutbacks are not mandated or enforced, city officials noted.

Under the “water warning,” the city’s storage is below 70 percent capacity, groundwater levels are 10 feet below normal, and/or lake or reservoir levels are five feet below normal pool. Outdoor water use is scaled back even more but not entirely prohibited, and conservation education efforts are increased.

A “water emergency” is triggered when storage is below 50 percent capacity, groundwater levels are 15 feet below normal, and/or lake or reservoir levels are seven feet below normal pool. Outdoor water use is banned, and the city may choose to seek additional emergency supplies from other users, the state or the federal government.

The city has utilized Banner as its water supply since mid-2001, when temporary lines from Banner to the city’s water treatment plant were installed to help alleviate a similar situation at Prairie Lake, which was the city’s primary water source until the changeover to water from Banner.

Banner Creek Reservoir is located 1 1/2 miles west of Holton on Kansas Highway 16 and encompasses 535 surface acres, it was reported.