ON WEDNESDAY, the Westminster City Council approved making watering restrictions permanent (Flickr/Michael Mol).

If you got used to turning your sprinklers off because of the recent heavy rains, you got good practice for permanent water conservation measures approved by the Westminster City Council on Wednesday night.

On a 5-0 vote, the council approved for first reading an ordinance amending to city’s municipal code to:

• prohibit turf on public streets
• prohibit the washing of hard surfaces with drinkable water
• limit watering by residents to no more than five days per week during the summer and three days in the winter, on a schedule set by the city
• prohibit watering during or within 48 hours of a measurable rain event
• ban the issuance of pool construction permits during severe drought times.
• under some conditions, new pools must have a cover as part of the permit requirements.

The amendment to the city’s Water Conservation and Supply Shortage program was approved for a first reading Wednesday and will come back on the agenda on Feb. 8. If approved, it makes permanent drought-fighting measures first installed in 2009 as temporary rules.