VIRGINIA BEACH — Summer is the ideal season for watering grass, washing the car, or turning the sprinkler on for the kids.
But in some cities, outdoor water activities are regulated to require special equipment or are restricted to certain days or hours.
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Laura Tworek, a spokeswoman for Virginia Beach Public Utilities, said the city doesn’t have to worry about restrictions with “a very reliable and readily available water supply.”
Virginia Beach’s Lake Gaston Water Supply is a 76-mile long pipeline capable of pumping 60 million gallons of water per day with the city averaging about 32.5 million gallons per day as of last year, Tworek said.
And, there’s no fear Lake Gaston will dry out anytime soon.
“It’s constantly being fed from other water sources. The water from Lake Gaston will be enough to sustain our city for many, many years to come,” she said.
Water is pumped to the city’s 445,000 residents from the lake on the North Carolina/Virginia border and flows through the pipeline to a Norfolk-owned reservoir in Suffolk.
The water is finally treated at Norfolk’s Moores Bridges Water Treatment Plant, according to the city’s website.
Tworek said for the first time in nine years, residents will see an increase in water rates starting July 1.
The 49-cent per thousand-gallon increase will help fund improvements in public infrastructure.
Even with that increase, “Virginia Beach still has the lowest water rate in Hampton Roads,” she said.
While the city doesn’t regulate water use during the summer, water conservation is always encouraged to preserve the life-span of the LGWS.
Summer water conservation methods like watering your grass in the early morning and using mulch to keep moisture in plants have gradually decreased water usage over the years, Tworek noted.
For more tips on how to conserve water, click here
