Water managers are asking residents to avoid excessive water use and putting more demand on their distribution system.

Ridgway Mayor John Clark announced during a Ouray County Board of County Commissioners’ meeting late this morning that firefighters battling the Gold Mountain Fire will start pulling water from Lake Otonawanda, the town’s primary source of domestic water. He also said the town is implementing mandatory water restrictions and pleaded with residents to follow those restrictions and conserve water.

“It’s a very critical time water-wise. Please honor that,” Clark said.

Meanwhile, a sudden increase in demand since the fire ignited has put stress on Tri County Conservancy District’s water system – on top of a coincidental water main break early Wednesday morning – and now the water provider is asking folks to please be conscientious about their water use.

“We had people watering with sprinklers on their cars,” said Tri-County Assistant Manager Dylan Ross.

While Ross said he understands people are panicked, he said the excessive water use created a situation where his staff needed to contact water customers and ask them to please stop watering outside 24-7 to preserve water in the distribution system for others.

“We have people that are way out of the fire zone … all the way out near Pleasant Valley or County Road 24, that turn on sprinklers and they haven’t turned them off,” he said.

Each of Tri-County’s taps can run an estimated 20 to 30 gallons per minute, Ross said. He described a chain reaction that put stress on the water system.

“It can turn into thousands of gallons per minute of water … it’s excessive watering,” he said. “So please only use it for personal use or emergencies.”

Tri-County’s crews have been working constantly since the fire erupted, Ross said, ensuring that fire crews have access to water and fixing routine breaks that are unrelated to the fire. That included a water main break that threatened the water tank on County Road 10, which holds 1 million gallons.

While Ross said the conservancy district is not experiencing a shortage of raw water, the issue is more about sudden demands on the system due to unusual spikes in usage.

“We’re not limiting the use of water, we’re just asking people to do it responsibly, and don’t water for 24 hours,” he said.

The Montrose-based conservancy district treats water that comes from Blue Mesa Reservoir and transports it through more than 600 miles of pipeline with a series of pump stations to customers in Delta, Montrose and Ouray counties. Its southernmost customers in Ouray County are in the Idlewild subdivision north of Ouray. It also operates the Ridgway Reservoir dam.

Its service area in Ouray County includes homes along U.S Highway 550, Pleasant Valley, northern Log Hill Mesa and Ponderosa Village as well as the wider county.

Plaindealer co-publisher Mike Wiggins contributed to this report.