Officials in Bonney Lake and Sumner urged water customers to conserve last week.

Mayor Neil Johnson said last week Bonney Lake water customers were asked to conserve because the city was selling water to a neighboring city.

Johnson said at the July 28 City Council meeting the city was selling approximately 1 million gallons of water per day to Auburn.

“They’re needing it because one of their wells is being worked on,” Johnson said.

He said the city opened its intertie to Tacoma Water Wednesday and will be used by all Bonney Lake water customers, including Auburn and Tapps Island. It will be mixed with different amounts of Bonney Lake water, which is from wells and springs.

Public Works Director Dan Grigsby said the city has been sending Auburn water through the city’s inter-tie since June 30.

“We will continue to do so for another five to six weeks while they make repairs to their well that serves the Lakeland Hills area,” Grigsby said.

In the interim, Bonney Lake is pumping an average amount of 650,000 gallons of water each day into the Auburn water system. On peak days, this amount has increased to 1 million gallons. When its well is returned to service, Auburn will no longer need water from Bonney Lake.

Auburn’s water, unlike that of other cities, comes from deep well aquifers and springs. It is not dependent on the snowpack from the Cascade Range to replenish its reservoirs.

Auburn also has urged customers to conserve water.

Tapps Island’s water reservoir has been reduced to half its capacity during the recent hot spell, Grigsby said.

He said Bonney Lake’s water supply will be used to refill its water tank through an intertie with Tapps Island, when it gets low.

Johnson also noted to the council that water inter-tie agreements with Auburn and Tapps Island could come before the council later this year.

“We want to address this,” he said. “We feel like there should be more advantages to the city when we have to go through a lot of the heartache and all the resources.”

Grigsby said during peak demand periods in July and August, the city’s water system is heavily used.

“While our water supply capacity is adequate to meet ours and our neighbors’ needs, the pressure throughout our water system fluctuates frequently during peak demand periods,” Grigsby said.

He said to prevent water pressure from getting too low in parts of the city, city employees will occasionally place “Conserve Water” signs at entrances to Bonney Lake.

“When you see the signs set out, we ask all our water customers to stop watering lawns, washing cars and other outdoors activities,” Grigsby said. “We will only post these signs when absolutely necessary.”

Sumner was having trouble maintaining critically-needed water supplies in the city’s reservoirs and issued a request for its citizens to conserve, according to a city press release.

Sumner reduced water use in parks and other facilities and asked citizens to assist by following a list of suggestions. Sumner’s goal was to maintain enough water for vital needs, especially for drinking.

Measures to conserve water include watering lawns and gardens no more than every other day.

Sumner officials suggest residents with even-numbered addresses water on even-numbered days and residents with odd-numbered addresses water on odd-numbered days.

They also urged customer to water at night.

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