New records set in spring water usage
Another sign of increased tourism in Branson this year is the amount of drinking water produced by the city’s public works department. Overall water use increased significantly this spring compared to spring 2006.
In March, water use totaled 93.21 million gallons, an increase of 4.73 percent over March 2006. April of this year also surpassed the previous year with 104.02 million gallons, an increase of 3.8 percent.
This pattern continued the first weekend of May when 12.6 million gallons of water was treated, an increase of 8.7 percent over last year.
For all of 2006, the amount of drinking water produced by the city set a record with almost 1.4 billion gallons.
Of the total amount of water produced by the city, 92 percent comes from surface water out of Lake Taneycomo and 8 percent from ground water wells.
According to city officials, three major factors contribute to the record water usage — new development, more visitors in town and more people moving into the city.
