Even though we’ve had rain, the Seattle Regional Water System continues to face a potential water shortage. We are asking customers to voluntarily reduce your water use. This will help stretch the region’s water supply for people and fish until our mountain reservoirs refill to the necessary levels. Even seemingly small daily actions can add up to make a big impact.
Visit Seattle Public Utilities’ blog to keep up with the latest water supply information, including how the region is doing to meet our 100 million gallons per day goal.
Download our multilingual water-saving tips flyer for homes (pdf) and multilingual water-saving tips flyer for businesses (pdf).
Top ways to reduce your water use
Homes
- Take shorter or fewer showers
- Take a shower instead of a bath
- Wash only full loads of laundry and dishes
- Check for and fix leaks, especially running toilets
- Turn off the tap while brushing teeth/shaving
- Use water wisely and encourage friends and family to do the same
Outdoors
- Stop watering lawns
- Water established trees, shrubs, and perennials once a month or less
- Delay car washing or use a car wash that recycles water
- Turn off water fountains and decorative water features
- Delay non-essential pressure washing
- Delay filling pools and hot tubs
Businesses
- Check for and fix leaks, especially running toilets
- Encourage employees to report leaks and use water wisely
- Thaw frozen food in the fridge, not under running water
- Provide new towels only when requested
- Ask your building operator to optimize your cooling systems
Affected utilities and customers
The voluntary call to reduce water use applies to everyone who gets water from the Seattle Regional Water System. It covers 1.5 million people, 25 water utilities, and all members of the Saving Water Partnership except the City of North Bend. The City of North Bend has enacted their own water use reduction measures. Please reach out to North Bend if you are a customer of theirs and have questions.
