Loudoun County adopted mandatory water use restrictions Tuesday after drought conditions and steady water usage left the reservoir the county's utility system relies on to serve most residents living east of Leesburg drained to only 20 percent of its capacity.

County Supervisors voted unanimously to require residents to stop watering their lawns and washing their cars at home, except out of a three-gallon bucket. Restaurants are not to serve drinking water unless customers specifically request the service.

The drought has created an emergency that threatens the long-term viability of the Beaver Dam Reservoir at Goose Creek, Loudoun County Sanitation Authority General Manager Dales Hammes said Tuesday.

“If you act on this resolution and impose mandatory restrictions, they will be with us for a while. This is going to be with us until Beaver Dam begins to refill,” Hammes said.

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Unless the county shuts off all use of the reservoir, it could take years to recover from a year that has seen a 13-inch decrease in annual rainfall at Dulles International Airport.

“We do have a water shortage emergency,” Hammes said. “We're taking a proactive step to avoid this situation being more serious.”

The drought has already caused Loudoun County farmers more than $24 million in damages and resulted in a federal disaster declaration, but county officials had hoped they would be able to avoid any mandatory restrictions.

Voluntary restrictions, however, only produced a 10 percent decrease in usa — more than 4 million gallons above the target of 25 million gallons per day, Hammes said.

Loudoun County will rely on water from neighboring Fairfax to weather the drought, Hammes said, forcing it to reduce the amount of water its customers use.

The Sheriff's Office will enforce the mandatory restriction and allow any property's first violation to slide with a warning.

The restrictions began immediately, but enforcement will be delayed until Tuesday to allow time for notification. The only exemptions will be for those residents who began growing grass or who have placed new sod since Sept. 1, Hammes said. Seeding existing grass lawns does not merit an exemption.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com