The next 10 days will be crucial for the city of Huntsville. Continued high temperatures and no recordable rainfall has city officials pulling out the Water Conservation and Drought Contingency Plan.

Stage one of this plan could be activated within the next 10 days.

Director of Public Utilities for the City of Huntsville, Carol Reed, says Stage 1 will be initiated when the amount of water pumped from local water treatment facilities reaches an amount over 10 million gallons per day for 10 consecutive days. Customers will be asked to voluntarily conserve water.

Stage 2 of the plan will be initiated if and when water consumption reaches 10.6 million gallons a day for 10 consecutive days.

Stage 2 requires customers to comply with water restrictions on specfic non-essential water uses including washing windows, driveways, curbs and gutters, as well as washing vehicles without a cutoff valve and bucket. Stage 2 would also restrict the filling of swimming pools.

Finally, the process of alternating outdoor watering based on address would be initiated during Stage 2.

No word yet on if the decision to intiate this plan could come as soon as this week.