St. Cloud is not experiencing the drought like conditions this year we did last year.  That means there are no restrictions on watering or water use. Tracy Hodel is the Public Works Director for the city of St. Cloud.  She says it is optimal for people to water their lawns when the sun isn't out to avoid evaporation.  Hodel says the city is seeing the demand for water skyrocketing at around 4 or 5 in the morning each day.  She says because of all that demand at once their tower levels just drop.  Because of this Hodel encourages people to schedule their irrigation systems to run between 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. if they can.  She doesn't expect people to get up at 1 a.m. to turn their sprinklers on if they cannot schedule them.

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Hodel says the heavy demand between 4 and 6 a.m. drops the system.  She says if less people scheduled their sprinklers between 4 and 6 a.m. that would help even out the demand.

Areas south of St. Cloud are experiencing drought in Minnesota.  Areas to the north of St. Cloud are not.  The heavier than normal rain falls in northern Minnesota do impact the Mississippi River water levels as they flow south into St. Cloud.  Tracy Hodel says this water goes to St. Cloud's drinking water facility and to their hydro electric generation facility.  She says the rainfall we have in St. Cloud is helpful for those downstream from us but the northern Minnesota rainfall is what is most beneficial to St. Cloud.  Hodel says at Hydro that have a perfect amount of water coming in which means they aren't wasting any of the water coming in due to high water levels.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Tracy Hodel it is available below.

 

 

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