As our drought continues and hot weather refuses to leave water usage around our area is, just as you'd suspect, on the rise.
But recently the amount of water used in Moline set a new record, less than two weeks ago the city water plant pumped out 8.3 million gallons of water.
To put that in context, on a typical summer day they average 6.5 million gallons.
"The amount of water that our community and communities around the nation use has fallen off. So once again that 8.3 mgd is a substantial peak,” says Greg Swanson, Utilities General Manager for the City of Moline.
Swanson tells us there's no threat of water shortages, though the drought is creating a few small challenges for his crews.
"It takes a lot more energy to remove the water from the river and move it into the treatment plant as the level falls, and there's some additional treatment challenges," says Swanson.
The Mississippi watershed for our area covers more than 88,000 square miles.
The series of locks and dams maintained by the Army Corp of Engineers means the river has plenty of water and the threat of it drying up, or rationing being needed is slim to nil.
"We're in excellent condition in terms of being able to provide the city with water. We have excess pumping treatment and storage capacity. We have no concerns with getting water from the Mississippi at this time,” says Swanson.