Francis City asks residents to stop all outdoor watering amid water shortage

Photo: Unsplash // Paul Moody

FRANCIS, Utah — The government of Francis City asked residents to stop all outdoor watering last week, citing “critically low” water tank levels due to high usage.

According to a notice from Francis City, the municipality is currently working to obtain temporary pumping for a new well that it hopes to have in place later today. It is asking residents to conserve water for the city’s culinary and fire protection needs.

“If we don’t work together and we continue to water outside and we continue to water in the middle of the day, we run a real risk of waking up in the morning without enough water in the system to supply residents and we don’t have baths, showers, a drink of water,” Francis Mayor Jeremie Forman told Fox13.

The city has asked residents to voluntarily cease outdoor water use until Wednesday, July 19, but noted that the city will enforce the new rule if necessary.

“We are asking for your voluntary compliance in order to mitigate this issue for a short time,” said the notice from Francis City. “The city will resort to enforcement if necessary but would like to avoid that if at all possible. Again we apologize for the inconvenience and will work as quickly as possible to obtain temporary pumping.”