06:43 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 19, 2006

By Chau Nguyen / 11 News

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Rolling Fork is a neighborhood of 750 homes where water is a precious commodity and residents are reminded of that every day.

KHOU-TV

Jude Wiggins makes every drop of water count at her house.

When then enter their subdivision, they see a sign asking them to help ration water.

“The signs are up to remind us that we need to conserve water. All of us in some manner,” said Jude Wiggins.

Jude Wiggins does her part by choosing to water on her own rather than turn on her sprinkler system.

If it seems unusual that residents here are being asked to save water, considering Houston isn’t under a drought, and it’s been raining lately.

Consider that this entire neighborhood gets its water from one well, pumped from underground.

And the less water is used, the more water there is, and the more residents can save in their wallets.

“Everybody’s helping each other if you conserve your water,” said Wiggins.

Voluntary water conservation efforts began here a few weeks ago.

However, it’s hard to say how many residents are participating and how many are not.

“You gotta water sooner or later,” said John Darby.

Darby says he had been water rationing until today.  He says his neighbor influenced him.

“When I came out to check the mail, he was watering. I said, ‘He’s right, so that’s when I went to turn my sprinkler on,” said Darby.

Rolling Fork’s water well got dangerously low several years ago, forcing a mandatory water rationing.

Wiggins remembers those days which is why at her house, every drop counts.