Rural Water District No. 4 on Thursday asked its 1,000 households to curtail nonessential water uses such as lawn watering, washing cars and refilling swimming pools because of the heat and lack of rainfall.

“It happens every summer,” said RWD 4 Administrator Steve Schultz. “It happened last summer and the summer before that. Just use a little common sense.”

The district covers the Douglas County area east of Highway 59, south of Eudora and Lawrence and northeast of Baldwin.

Gov. Bill Graves has expanded the state’s drought warning area from 61 to 83 counties. Douglas County is now included.

The RWD 4 alert came less than three weeks after the Tonganoxie City Council told residents to refrain from watering lawns and gardens, washing cars and filling swimming pools.

The ban has already had a large effect on the city’s water supply saving 150,000 to 180,000 gallons of water a day, said Shane Krull, city administrator.

A survey of Douglas County rural water districts and area cities found no other bans or alerts issued, but city officials and district administrators said they were monitoring water supplies.

Lawrence last received rainfall on July 28. The National Weather Service forecasts a 30 percent chance for thunderstorms today and Saturday in the Douglas County area.