Water

With the lingering drought, Wichita city leaders plan to discuss water restrictions next month.  It's a step many other communities had to take last summer to deal with the continuing dry weather. Whether or not there are restrictions where you live, you can do things now to stop wasting water.  The most important change involves your toilet.  "If it's leaking, a leaking flapper can leak 10 gallons a day from your home. So change that out, it might be $5 or $7 to change  out," said Director of K-State's Prevention Pollution Institute Nancy Larson.

Instead of giving relaxing massages on her busiest weekend of the year, the owner of Massage Junkie, Heather Mckendry is frantically emptying out her business, sorting through piles of rubble. "It is pretty upsetting," she said. One of her employees opened on Wednesday to find water, inches deep on the ground. "There was water everywhere and entire chunks of ceiling gone," Mckendry said. The copper pipes had frozen and burst in six different places and what wasn't sitting in water got rained on. Her usually calm, Zen-like business now has loud fans lining the halls; a water restoration crew is in the process of cleaning up. "We are removing baseboards and drying the carpet to prevent any secondary damage," said the general manager of The Butler Group Chris Goodman.

Firefighters are careful to not overheat while putting house fires out by having procedures in place to keep from getting sick. As part of the fire department's procedures, a special rehab unit is called out to assist firefighters. Every 20 to 30 minutes, firefighters are switched out so they can relax, cool off and drink some water. They also have their vitals checked, like their heart rate and blood pressure, to make sure their well enough before going back to fight the fire.

Softball is a staple of the summer, just like the heat. "It's hot, so we have to have lots of water and just make sure we have our hats and snacks for the kids," explains Joanie Boughfman, who was watching her daughter play Monday night.  By the time she, and her eight and nine year-old teammates, took the field Monday evening temperatures remained well into the triple digits. Creating the challenge to keep cool. "I make sure my daughter is still sweating, and if she isn't, I get more water," said Deb Boline.

The weather is heating up, and that's causing some backyard pools to open up a little early this year. But be warned, warmer temperatures can also create more algae. If your back yard pool looks green or black, it may be time to shock your water with chlorine. "What make a big difference when you are getting that cover off how much stuff got underneath there because that all works against what ever chlorine you had in there," said Nick Dillon, Assistant Manager of Ultra Modern Pool & Patio.

Several compounds can be added to water to fluoridate it. We spoke with Wichita State University chemist David Eichhorn. He says, despite what these compounds start out as, once they are mixed with water - you end up with fluoride. He says groups like the CDC have determined safe levels, but, like anything, you don't want too much. "Any chemical is going to be toxic at a high enough concentration," Eichhorn told us, "A good example is sodium we think we need to stay away from sodium is in fact important to have in our body just not at too high of concentration.

It's one of those jobs you put off whenever you can: washing the windows. If you're used to lugging around the bucket full of water and rags and suffering a sore arm after hours of that work, we may have a solution. It's call the Windex Outdoor All-In-One Glass Cleaning Tool. A lot of words, but the idea is this:  spray the outside of windows with a hose, use the Windex pad to soap up and clean the glass, and just spray with the hose to rinse.  That's it.  No need to hand-dry.

By Kara Sewell (HAYSVILLE, Kan.) Passing by, it looks like typical construction.  But all the dirt and digging on South Meridian is actually a makeover. Not on the road but the ditch alongside the road. Map of Ditch Area The ditch is supposed to drain water from retention ponds in the area but it's filled with tree limbs and debris preventing water from getting through. After heavy rains in April, some residents in the area experienced flooding because the ditch was clogged.

by Denise Hnytka (WICHITA, Kan) The nation's largest pediatricians group is relaxing its stance against swimming lessons for children younger than 4. A few small studies now suggest toddlers may be less likely to drown if they've had swim lessons. That's why the American Academy of Pediatrics says it's fine to enroll children as young as one in classes. The YMCA offers parent/child classes for kids as young as two. It says the classes are popular, especially in the spring sessions.

"It's not the snow but the cold that could cause problems over the next few days. Plumbers are expecting lots of calls about frozen pipes. It happens most often at mobile homes. On a call Tuesday afternoon, Seth Harrington places a heater near the pipes and waits until they warm up. He says it is an easy fix, but letting them freeze can cause damage, depending on how long the pipes were frozen. "The longer they are frozen, the more the water will expand and that breaks the pipe," he said.