AMHERST — Residents, businesses and other users of municipal water who violate the continued water ban may now be issued fines.

The Select Board recently approved an interim mandatory water use restriction policy that includes financial penalties. Under the policy, a first offense yields a warning, with a $50 fine for a second offense and $100 penalties for all subsequent offenses. Each day an offense continues will be considered a separate violation.

But even though the new non-criminal disposition system written by Building Commissioner Robert Morra is in place, Town Manager Paul Bockelman said that efforts to educate water users since the ban took effect in August shows that compliance is nearly universal.

“We don’t feel like we’re going to need a lot of this,” Bockelman said, referring to potential fines.

While some people may be willing to pay fines for activities such as watering lawns, washing vehicles or filling swimming pools, all of which are prohibited during the ban, Bockelman said that the violations discovered typically are unintentional, such as a sprinkler system activated while a homeowner was on vacation.

Morra, Department of Public Works Superintendent Guilford Mooring and Police Chief Scott Livingstone will all have the power to issue fines. If a user wants to appeal, that would happen in Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown.

Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek told the Select Board that educational work to reduce water use has been successful.

“Efforts to conserve water throughout town continue to be effective,” Ziomek said.

One issue that has come up, though, is the watering of athletic fields, including fields made of artificial turf. Ziomek said there have been discussions with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College and Hampshire College about how much water must be sprayed on these fields to cool the surface and make it safe for playing. Athletic fields are exempt from the water ban if the water is being used to promote the health and safety of athletes.

The town has been using water from outdoor swimming pools to water its playing fields, though Bockelman said this has not been effective at keeping them in playable shape. Bockelman added that there are preliminary discussions to determine whether some high school athletic events may be moved to UMass.

And though no water is coming from the reservoirs in Shutesbury and Pelham, town officials say they feel confident the wells in South Amherst will sustain water demand into November.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.