One of the two wells taken out of service earlier this year by the Alabaster Water Board has been cleared for use, but officials are still asking customers to conserve water as the summer &8212; a time of peak water usage &8212;draws near.

&8220;At this point we would just like to ask people to be wise with their water usage,&8221; water manager Pete Lucas said. &8220;Be mindful of the water-supply situation and try not to waste it.&8221;

Residents who opened their water bills last month found a letter asking them to reduce outside usage of water such as sprinkler systems and car washing.

The request came after Alabaster shut down two of its three wells for producing cloudy water. The two wells accounted for nearly a third of the city&8217;s 6.6 million gallons-per-day capacity.

Since that time the city received clearance to operate one of the two closed wells, Lucas said.

Alabaster&8217;s well No. 2 was returned to service after it was given a clean bill of health by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), the organization that regulates public drinking water systems.

But even with one well out of service the water board faces a potential shortage, Lucas said, prompting officials to look for alternate sources of water to meet the seasonal increase in demand.

Alabaster will draw additional water from the county&8217;s system as well as neighbor cities Pelham and Calera.

Next summer, the city will contract with Bessemer to help offset the lost production resulting from the closed well.

&8220;We think that&8217;s the best answer,&8221; Lucas said.

Filtration is another option, but Lucas said that process is costly and takes time to implement.

In the mean time, officials are asking residents to do their part to help conserve as much water as possible, especially this summer as usage is expected to increase by as much as 2 million gallons per day.

&8220;If we can ratchet that number back some, it&8217;s just like having another well,&8221; Lucas said.

Alabaster water customers saw a 25 percent increase in rates in March and an additional 10 percent increase is scheduled for next February, but Lucas said the water board has no current plans for additional increases.

&8220;We don&8217;t anticipate rates going up outside of those scheduled increases,&8221; he said