Homeowners draw up new plan under watering ban - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Marion County residents are working on new plans to water around the house under the city's watering ban.

In the Chatham Arch neighborhood, Mike does his neighborly chores on the eve of the mandatory lawn watering ban.

"I'm only watering the Hostas," he said, and "the replacement shrubs she did."

Mike has a treatment plan for all the neighbors' yards he tends.

"We're letting the grass die. Not bothering watering the grass, not watering the trees. They're mature. They'll survive," he said.

Why not try to get one more good watering on those lawns?

"If we don't get a good rain, what good is it gonna do?" Mike said. "It's not going to help anything."

But on East Street and elsewhere, others were getting one final heavy watering in.

"We've seen a drop in peak demand usage," says Lindsay Lindgren, Citizens Water.

The utility says people haven't boosted their watering knowing a ban's coming. In fact, usage since Tuesday dropped slightly. Customers used 196 million gallons Tuesday, 192 million Wednesday, and an estimated 195 million gallons Thursday.

"We've sold a bunch of nozzles here recently in past two or three days," says Mike Gunning at Fusek's Hardware downtown. "Those hooks a day ago were full. As you can see, they're down to one or two versus ten or twelve."

Could that recent rush on hose nozzles be because of the mandatory ban on lawn watering? The city says you cannot use lawn sprinklers. You may only water your plants or flowers or vegetable gardens with a hose fitted with a nozzle that lets you stop the flow of water.

Back to Mike watering his neighbors yards.

"I don't have too much faith about this 40 percent rain chance," he said.

So Mike will keep up the legal watering and hope the clouds don't do what they did last week.

"Finally, it's gonna be here and we just watched it go right over," he said.