Source: Greenwich News
Aquarion Water Co. officials said yesterday they are contacting the 10 largest consumers of water in town, including the town government and schools and Greenwich Hospital, to inform them that the town is under a drought advisory.
"I'll be asking them if there's anything they can do to conserve," said David Medd, the water company's Greenwich operations manager.
Reservoirs levels stayed steady at about 27 percent of capacity yesterday, about two days after Aquarion called on residents to voluntarily reduce water usage by at least 10 percent, Medd said. At this time of year, reservoir levels are normally at about 80-percent full.
"Demand is low and with the little bit of precipitation, my guess is we'll probably hold," Medd said. Among the reservoirs managed by Aquarion, only Greenwich and Mystic are under a drought advisory, although Stamford is close to having one declared, water company officials said.
Reservoirs in Stamford are at less than 47 percent of capacity. Officials will call for a drought advisory -- which asks residents to voluntarily curtail water usage by 10 percent -- if the levels dip below 45 percent, Aquarion spokesman Adam Brill said.
Stamford has a larger reservoir than Greenwich and different guidelines govern when drought advisories are called, officials said.
In Greenwich, if levels dip below 25 percent for several days, a "drought watch" will be declared and not only will residents will be asked to cut back their water usage by 15 percent, all outdoor, non-essential water usage also will be banned, officials said.
"At this point, I'm cautiously optimistic," Medd said. "Odds are we're going to have some precipitation."
The National Weather Service predicts the next wave of precipitation will be light rain and possibly snow tomorrow evening into Sunday morning.
"Rainfall amounts look very light -- maybe around a tenth of an inch," said David Wally, a meteorologist with the Upton, N.Y., weather service. "It's a low that originated from western Canada. Generally they're a moisture deprived system."
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