Homeowners should heed water shortage warning

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A water shortage warning issued for much of northeast Indiana pertains mostly to operations that use a significant amount of water however officials with the Indiana Department Natural Resources have said homeowners should heed the warning as well.

“It would be most applicable for folks that are connected to utility [or] city water where obviously in general most of those would be significant water withdrawal facilities,” Mark Basch, head of the water rights and use section for the DNR’s division of water said.

It is up to operations in the 32 counties across the state, which are under the warning, to initiate restrictions or ordinances on water use.  The warning provides an opportunity to encourage voluntary conservation, Basch said.

In northeast Indiana the counties of Allen, Dekalb, Grant, Huntington, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley are included in the warning issued by the Departments of Natural Resources and Homeland Security.

The entire state of Indiana is considered to be under a “Water Shortage Watch,” which requests everyone to reduce water usage by five percent.