SCOTT DEPOT, W.Va. — After being in water conservation mode for the last few months now due to the ongoing lack of rainfall, the Putnam County Public Service District is turning to their customers for help in those conservation efforts.
Putnam PSD General Manager James Evers said customers will start to see requests being sent out about conserving their water supply through flyers in the mail attached to their upcoming bills. He said they can also already review the request on their website and Facebook page.
He asks customers to read over the information carefully and take the effort into serious consideration. 
“It’s a voluntary conservation for our customers just to let them know because of the droughts we’ve had in the Kanawha Valley area,” said Evers. “Everything they can do to help conserve water not only makes it cheaper for them, but it helps sustain our reservoir.”
The conservation request specifically asks Putnam PSD customers to avoid watering lawns and gardens during this time, not washing any paved surfaces or pressure washing homes, avoiding using water for decorative purposes such as through fountains or waterfalls, and reducing water used for cleaning and washing vehicles. There’s also tips people can use to conserve water in the request as well.
Evers said while they aren’t at any grave risk of running completely dry, they have seen the lowest levels of rain in about 20 years, which is indeed causing their reservoir to run low.
In addition to reaching out to customers for help, Evers said West Virginia American Water has also been supplementing some of its water to the PSD in order to prevent depletion.
He said they on their own accord have also been doing a good job with saving water.
“Our guys have been really good about anytime we find a leak to get it fixed, because any drop we can keep in the line is you know, a drop we don’t have to take out of the reservoir,” he said.
Evers said, however, that along with the water company, they have also reached out to the City of Hurricane to tap into their water connection and use it as a vehicle to access the supplemental water from American Water, as the Putnam PSD and Hurricane have had a longtime contract with American Water.
He said American Water and the City of Hurricane have filed a joint petition with the Public Service Commission allowing for the Putnam PSD to use some of the company’s water supply.
Evers said it has been a very beneficial interconnection to have at a time like this.
“We haven’t had to utilize if for a long time, but we’re actually utilizing it now just to subsidize part of our system that way what we draw from them we don’t have to draw from our reservoir,” he said.
Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards said the Putnam PSD will not be taking water from the city’s supply, but just using their infrastructure to tap into American Water’s system.
While more rain would be the ultimate factor in helping the situation, Evers said there’s plenty of measures people can voluntarily take on their own to help as well.
However, he said saving water should be something people would already feel inclined to do on their own anyways, because it’s beneficial on their budgets and good for the environment.
“Not only does it make it cheaper on the customer, you know, the less water that flows through their meter is a lesser amount on their bill, and plus, you know, water is one of the most precious resources we have, so we don’t want to see anyone waste it unnecessarily,” Evers said.
In addition to the aforementioned requests to conserving water, Evers asks that customers check for any possible leaks in their homes and have them fixed immediately. He said also if you’re out and about and spot a leak to report it the Putnam PSD and they will come out and repair it.