Connecticut Water Advising Shoreline Residents to Step Up Conservation Efforts

The severe drought in Connecticut isn’t going away anytime soon.

Connecticut Water, which supplies 92,000 customers statewide, is now asking residents in several shoreline communities to cut back their water usage even more.

In Guilford, Hilary Catala and her children are coming up with ways to conserve water.

“Things that the kids aren’t able to do outside, you know, we usually fill up a kiddie pool,” she said.

Like other Connecticut Water customers in Guilford, Madison, Clinton, Westbrook and Old Saybrook, the Catala Family on Monday received a recording asking to reduce daily water usage by 15 percent. That’s about six to eight gallons per person.

The company is asking customers statewide to continue lowering their daily water usage by 10 percent.

“Even walking around here, around town, we have a lot of different water, ponds and everything and they’re definitely not as high as they usually are,” Catala said.

The same can be said about the Killingworth Reservoir, one source of Connecticut Water’s supply.

“We’re about 8 or 9 feet down here,” Director of Service Delivery David Connors said.

“With the long term drought forecast that we’re looking at right now, it looks like we’re in for a sustained period of dry conditions,” Connors added.

The severe drought extends across more than 85 percent of the state, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“Water is a precious commodity,” Bill Shank from Guilford said, “so you have to always be concerned about it.”

Shank had some of his own ideas how to save water.

“Reduce showers, like you can lather up, turn the water off, and then rinse off and then when you do dishes,” he said, “don’t leave the water running, simple things like that add up.”

The message from Connecticut Water is any bit of conservation can help.

“We just like residents to be mindful of how much water they use,” Connors said.

While this week feels like summer, Catala’s children won’t get to play in the kiddie pool.

“Next week hopefully it will start to be more fall and seasonable,” she said, “and start to rain.”

Another way to prevent water from being wasted during this drought is fixing a leaky toilet or faucet.

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