Rain, use reductions help, but drought threat remains
GREENWICH — Recent rainfall has helped the town hold its own after hitting a third drought trigger last month, but reservoirs in Greenwich remain in a precariously low position, officials said Tuesday.
Aquarion Water Co. put a mandatory ban on lawn watering in place in October for Greenwich as well as Darien, Stamford, New Canaan and Westport to cut usage.
The reservoir levels in town had dropped from 37 percent to 33 percent in the last week of October, according to Patricia Sesto, the town’s director of environmental affairs.
But 2 inches of rain in late October helped, Sesto said. “The reservoir level held up with the rain and reduction in demand” due to the watering ban, she said. “We are holding our own.”
Aquarion echoed its agreement, saying the rainfall improved the Greenwich levels from 33.6 percent to 35.2 percent.
“The rainfall did help to break the downward trend,” said Peter Fazekas, Aquarion’s director of communications. “Even though the change is small, it’s still positive news.”
But Sesto said residents should still monitor their water usage, pointing to the drought that Greenwich experienced in 2016 and into 2017.
“At 33 percent capacity, we should be concerned,” Sesto said of the reservoirs. “The 20-year average for this point in the year is 65
percent full. Aquarion reports they have water quality issues once the reservoirs start pumping out the bottom 26 percent” of the supply.
The 2 inches of rain have not yet had an impact on reservoir, but Sesto said that is not unusual.
“It takes a bit for the water to move through the watershed to get to the reservoir,” she said. “Also, there are other waterbodies along the way that will retain runoff. The fact that it didn’t drop means enough water made it to the
reservoir to offset what was taken from it.”
According to the National Weather Service, more rain is expected in town this week.
“Hopefully (Wednesday’s) rain will help move things along,” Sesto said. “Our rainfall amount has been normal or slightly above normal for the last four to six weeks. Aquarion feels comfortable this rate of rain will get us where we need to be in the spring.”
To make up the shortfall, heavier than normal rainfall will be needed, she
said.
“We started the year well, which is different than 2016, when we came into the dry season below average reservoir capacity,” Sesto said.
“We started with a drier than normal spring. We have a rainfall deficit of 7 inches for the past six months, but we have been at or near normal rainfall for the past couple of months,” she said. “The takeaway is recent normal rainfall amounts are not making up for the earlier deficit and our high use of
water for irrigation pulled more from the system than it was proportionately able to make up.”
To see an impact, Sesto said, more rain is needed and water usage needs to go down.
“We need higher than average precipitation over the winter to ensure we are in a good starting place next spring,” she said. “People should be working to cut water use to give us the best shot at increasing our reservoir levels in the event we have a drier than normal winter.”
So far, Sesto said, residents have cooperated with the call to cut water usage.
“From the beginning of October to the end of the third week, our water use dropped by 5 million gallons per day (mgd); 14 mgd to 9,” she said. “Clearly people heeded the warning about irrigation and we reached the 9 mgd about 10 days ahead of this point in 2019. Our normal winter use is about 7 to 8 mgd and we should reach this over the next month.”
In 2016, the town took more measures to curtail water usage, including a ban on using water for ornamental or decorative purposes. It also banned using water to wash driveways, sidewalks, decks and buildings, as well as car washing and window washing, unless for a livelihood.
First Selectman Fred Camillo has not indicated whether he will introduce similar rules this time, but he said he would consider taking more steps in the interest of public health.
Aquarion is not recommending additional steps at this time, Fazekas said.
“However, we are asking customers to continue to use water efficiently indoors,” he said. “It will take months for our water sources to recover from high summer and fall usage.”
Resident should check for leaks and drips, run only full loads in washing machines and dishwashers, take shorter showers and turn off water while shaving or brushing teeth.