Dry weather forcing Ames residents to conserve water

Officials in Ames are asking residents to curb water use because there’s been a drop in the underground aquifer that supplies the city’s drinking water. Ames Water Plant superintendent Phil Propes says water usage has jumped about two million gallons a day, from six million a day to eight million gallons a day. Propes says recent rains haven’t fully recharged the aquifer and it continues to go down.Propes hopes Ames residents quit watering their lawns, or at least limit their watering to an inch, once a week.