DES MOINES, Iowa — Central Iowa Water Works said on Wednesday that metro splash pads can reopen with limited hours.

Last week, CIWW implemented a historic lawn watering ban for all residential and commercial customers as treatment plants worked at max capacity to remove a near-record level of nitrates in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers.

While the ban was only on lawn watering, many metro communities like Des Moines, Urbandale, and Windsor Heights closed their splashpads and spray grounds to lower water consumption and reduce the reported strain felt at the water treatment plants.

On Wednesday, CIWW announced that nitrate levels in both the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers were slowly declining, with levels at 14.89 mg/L in the Des Moines and 13.82 mg/L in the Raccoon.

As a result of declining nitrate levels, CIWW said that communities can reopen their splashpads and spray grounds with limited hours on Thursday, ahead of the 90-degree weather expected this weekend. However, the CIWW said that the lawn watering ban will remain in effect for the foreseeable future. According to the CIWW, the decision to continue with the watering ban is because splash pads and spray grounds use a combined total of 1 million gallons of water a day, while lawn watering uses 40 million gallons, one third of the treatment system’s capacity, a day during the summer.

Nitrate levels in drinking water continue to be under the EPA’s safety limit of 10 mg/L, according to CIWW.

The CIWW will continue to provide daily updates about the situation on its Facebook page.

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