It’s been so dry in Lawrence that Kansas University has drained its fountains.

Although this is one of the driest summers on record, the city’s water director said Lawrence wasn’t in a water crisis — yet.

“Right now it doesn’t look so bad,” Chris Stewart said. “But six months from now it may not look so good.”

It all depends on how Lawrence recovers from the dry summer. Ross Janssen, 6News meteorologist, said the city had received just 7.41 inches of rain since June 1 — 2.89 inches less than normal.

And as water levels in rivers and reservoirs fall, the city’s two water treatment plants continue supplying Lawrence residents with an average 23.5 million gallons a day, Stewart said. That’s more than twice what is consumed during winter months.

While 23.5 million gallons is a lot of water, it’s not as much as was consumed in 2000, when daily demand reached 25.5 million gallons.

It’s unclear why demand is down, but the city is better able to handle it now than in 2000. Then, Lawrence’s plants — on the Kansas River and at Clinton Lake — could pump a combined 26.5 million gallons a day. After an expansion at Clinton Lake in 2001, daily capacity has increased to 31.5 million gallons.

“It’s been a tremendous help,” Stewart said. “There’s been a remarkable improvement in how we’re dealing with the water demands and how much easier it is.”

The dry weather hasn’t yet hurt the plants’ ability to draw water from the lake or river.

¢ 6News video: Water treatment plants are keeping up with heat¢Latest 6News forecast¢ Audio clips from Chris Stewart, the city’s water director

“All the reservoirs filled back up before this dry period started, so that was a big benefit for us,” Stewart said. “But in different circumstances, we would have been … a lot worse.”

Symbolic shutdown

This week, KU officials opted to follow Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ lead in shutting off seven campus fountains until the Aug. 21 start of the fall semester.

Sebelius shut down fountains at the state-owned Charles Curtis State Office Building and the Kansas Judicial Center, both in Topeka. She noted that turning off the water was largely symbolic.

But Jim Long, KU’s vice provost for facilities planning and management, said shutting off KU fountains would save about 217,000 gallons of water and $400.

“There’s actually some savings there,” he said. “The water is recycled, but some of it evaporates and has to be replenished.”

He said KU reviewed its watering patterns on its 950-acre campus during the dry summer months, looking for ways to trim its water and sewer bill, which runs $850,000 a year for about 170 million gallons.

“We do have areas we allow to go dormant,” he said. “We don’t try to do everything, especially during July and August.”

Long said making Jayhawk Boulevard look good for the start of school was important, as was protecting newly planted trees and flowers.

But water also is necessary for safety reasons. Sports fields must have enough grass to protect athletes, and lightning strikes — such as one Tuesday night that knocked down an ash tree near Watson Library — make dry grass a danger around campus buildings.

One advantage, he said, is that students, faculty and staff mostly have left campus during the summer, which means usage is actually down during the months when irrigation is most necessary.

Fields of green

Tom Bracciano, director of facilities and operations for Lawrence Public Schools, said schools also were working to conserve water. Officials recently installed in-ground sprinkler systems at football practice fields at South and West junior high schools and at Lawrence High School. Before, they used a circular sprinkler that shot water from above onto the ground.

“A lot of that water evaporates before it hits the ground,” he said. “And we ran them during the day because we didn’t have people to look after them at night. We need to keep the football fields in shape. Otherwise, kids come in and play on something that’s hard as pavement.”

Bracciano said there was plenty more ground the school district could water, but cost kept officials from even considering it.

“We’re not watering our playgrounds up around the schools,” he said. “I’d love to have the turf up near the schools looking like a golf course, but we can’t afford that.”