FAITH — Despite the fact that the total water usage in Faith decreased from May to June, the town is worried that it has not decreased enough to reduce the strain on the water system with two wells down. The town lost another well on June 23 after the transmission main degraded enough to take the well completely offline.

The well that went offline recently is Well No. 5 located at Jaycee Street. Well No. 2 at the same location ran dry and is currently being replaced. This has left only Well No. 6 online in the area as the town continues to work towards having the new well running.

“On the 23, Scott (Gardner) called me to inform me that the supply line that carries water from the pump into the system had deteriorated. So that well is out of commission right now,” said Karen Fink, the town clerk, about the notification received from Gardner, who works with Faith Utilities.

Water usage in May reached a total of 2,960,860 gallons pumped. Water usage in June dropped down to a total of 2,758,460 gallons pumped, marking a decrease of 202,400 gallons.

Fink notified the board of aldermen during their meeting Tuesday of the changes in the 15 locations that use significant water after restriction letters were sent out two weeks ago. Eight of the 15 are showing decreased water usage while three of the 15 were showing increases. The final four did not show any significant changes.

If the water usage does not see a significant drop by the next board meeting, the aldermen noted that they may have to move to stage two in their water conservation plan. Stage two would entail the town placing actual restrictions on water usage instead of the recommended water reduction that is in place now.

The board implemented increased irrigation prices to help curb water usage within the town. Town citizens will begin paying the increased rates when the new budget voted on by the board goes into effect on Aug. 1.