Despite a rainy winter, a "severe" water shortage has developed this summer in Inverness, prompting Inverness Public Utility District directors to ask residents to water their lawns and gardens less frequently.

Although December and January were much wetter than usual, only 4.1 inches of rain have fallen on Inverness Ridge since then, causing the watershed to dry up early, said Wade Holland, IPUD general manager.

"The streams right now look like they do on Labor Day in a dry year," he said. "There just isn't much water left."

The shortage has already forced IPUD to purchase water from North Marin Water District twice this month to maintain its fire-fighting reserves.

Holland, however, noted the district was never in danger of completely running out of water.

IPUD bought about 125,000 gallons of water from NMWD over the Fourth of July weekend, he said, and the pipeline between the two systems was opened again this week while water was still available to fill IPUD's storage tanks.

"We're turning on the water before it reaches a crisis point, so it doesn't create a problem for us or NMWD," said Holland.

To conserve water, IPUD directors are asking residents to reduce outdoor water usage by 30 percent.

Holland said automatic sprinkler systems and thirsty gardens are mostly to blame for the shortage, noting that water consumption has increased over the last decade much faster than the town's population growth.

If the shortage worsens, he added, IPUD may have to take more drastic measures, such as restricting or prohibiting outdoor watering, banning automatic sprinklers, or even water rationing.

"People have just got to cut down on excessive outdoor watering," said Holland. "Our perception is most people are watering more than is needed anyway."