The town of Ronda is asking residents to voluntarily restrict their water usage after the town’s water supply was depleted by half and the flow rates for the towns two wells dropped from 150 gallons per minute to approximately 35 gallons per minute.

The restrictions are for watering lawns and gardens, filling swimming pools and washing cars.

"On Friday evening, one of our water inspectors discovered that the water level in an elevated tank had dropped," Ronda Mayor Vincent Varela said. "On Saturday morning, I met with engineer Benjie Thomas of West Consultants, engineers from Yadkin Well Company, Town Clerk Lahoma O'Lague, Town Maintenance Engineer Ervin Norman, and Commissioners Wanda Blackburn, Sam Foster and Rex Ashley at the well houses. The engineers determined that water levels in the wells had dropped to the point that air was being drawn up by the pumps so, they slowed down the pump rates to allow water to fill back into the wells.

"We checked through the water usage records to see if we could find a leak somewhere and discovered that in August East Wilkes High School used over 260,000 gallons (they average 70,000 gallons while school is in session.) I called Bergie Speaks, head of maintenance for Wilkes County Schools, and he informed me that a broken pipe had been discovered near the baseball field that went undetected for a time but was repaired Friday."

Over 260,000 gallons of water escaped before the leak was discovered.

"The leak has created a serious water shortage," Varela said. "The town has a population of approximately 500 people with an average usage between 60 - 90,000 gallons. We're encouraging residents to conserve water as much as possible until the water level rises to a normal level. These restrictions will likely become mandatory with penalties for those who don't adhere to the restrictions."

The town will be closely monitoring water levels in both the wells and the elevated water tank to see how quickly they fill back up. Aside from over chlorination of water for a short time because of treating for a greater quantity of water than was being produced, residents should not experience any difference in water service.

"We fixed the chlorination problem as soon as we detected it in our daily monitoring," he said.

"This incidence has revealed that the water supply in Ronda is not as secure as once thought," Varela said. "Our wells were rated at 75,000 gallons per day and this is probably not true today. Town officials are starting to look at options to secure the water supply including extending the depth of an existing well which is not in service at this time, or possibly looking for another well site on town property."

The town will be notifying residents when the restrictions are lifted through various media sources and through the community message system.