Salina ? The city of Salina has declared a water emergency, meaning residents are prohibited from watering lawns, washing their cars or filling swimming pools.

The emergency was necessary because the Smoky Hill River, which supplies slightly more than half of the city’s water, has nearly dried up, city officials said.

“We do not believe the sky is falling,” City Manager Justin Gage said Wednesday. “We do need to get a handle on the flow of the river.”

If use doesn’t decline enough, additional restrictions may be imposed, city officials said.

People who violate the restrictions first will be visited by city staff and will be cited only if they persist in the violations, Gage said.

The city is taking its own steps, including not watering nearly all parks and facilities, not adding water to the municipal swimming pool and not washing city vehicles.

Also Wednesday, the city asked the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s Division of Water Resources to administer half the city’s water right to the river. The city’s water right, issued Oct. 16, 1954, allows it to pull 10 million gallons a day from the Smoky Hill River.

The city’s asked that flow to Salina be a minimum of 5 million gallons a day, meaning users between Salina and Kanopolis Reservoir who were issued their water rights after Salina’s will have to curtail pumping.