It's getting warmer, and it's been pretty dry so far this year and these conditions could persist into the summer months.

So the Long Point Region Conservation Authority is asking residents and water users throughout the watershed to voluntarily cut their consumption by 10 per cent.

This is the earliest a Level “1” low water condition has been declared since 2000.

In the past 3 months, the watershed has only received 55% of its normal long term average precipitation.  Flows in local watercourses are at levels not seen at this time of the year since 1999.

Given these factors, a Level 2 advisory might be warranted in the coming weeks.

As a result the authority is calling on people throughout the watershed to reduce water consumption and to comply with water use bylaws to sustain the existing water supply.

All residents can help by restricting outdoor water use, such as lawn watering and car washing, and taking care to conserve water indoors.

Farmers can reduce consumption and impact on water resources by following Best Management Practices for irrigation, such as:

• arrange with their neighbour to stagger irrigation times

• pump at a lower rate over a longer period of time and store water in a pond if possible

• ensure that their equipment is running efficiently and not leaking

• minimize daytime irrigation, or during windy conditions, to reduce the amount of water lost to evaporation