The City Council in the town of Aurora, Ill., unanimously agreed to amend the city's water conservation ordinance, further restricting the use of municipal water for lawn watering, lawn seeding and sod laying but allowing for unrestricted use of greywater, recycled effluent and harvested rainwater.

Falling in line with the recommendations of a multi-county water-planning alliance, the Aurora City Council unanimously approved amending the city's water conservation ordinance.

According to the city's website, the biggest changes in the amended ordinance are that lawn watering is now permitted only between 6 to 9 a.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. on odd or even calendar days based on a resident's street address number, and permanently installed in-ground watering systems now fall under the same odd-even system and times.

Before the approved changes, lawn watering was permitted from 5 to 9 a.m. and 6 to 10 p.m. according to address number, and the use of in-ground systems was permitted daily from 5 to 9 a.m.

The changes were recommended by the Northwest Water Planning Alliance, a coalition of county and city governments of inland groundwater and surface water dependent communities including Aurora. It was formed in 2010 by an intergovernmental agreement and serves about 1.4 million people in 79 communities within five counties.

The alliance came about because differing conservation practices between communities that were sharing the same water sources resulted in confusion among residents of differing cities and towns, many of which are only separated by a street. One of the organization's first tasks was to create a unified regional water conservation ordinance in order to clear up any misunderstandings and make conservation practices uniform.

Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner said, "Because communities rely on shared water supplies, we must cooperate regionally and act responsibly in their use."

The amended ordinance allows for unrestricted watering using reclaimed greywater, recycled effluent, or harvested rainwater but prohibits sod laying and lawn seeding during the months of July and August each year unless watering is performed by using greywater, recycled effluent, or harvested rainwater; According to the city's Water Production Division, the conservation practices have already resulted in the savings of approximately four million gallons per day during peak water demand periods citywide.