Ridgefield Declares Water State of Emergency

A state of emergency has been issued, restricting all public water usage in the town of Ridgefield.

All nonessential water usage is prohibited and only human or animal consumption is permitted after a 24-inch water main broke in Westport earlier Monday. The main is a critical feed to the Town of Ridgefield, according to Rudy Marconi, the first selectman of Ridgefield.

At one point, about 1,000 customers in Westport, Fairfield, Wilton, Weston, Darien, Ridgefield and Georgetown were without water. Local golf courses have also been asked to refrain from watering the fairways on Monday. They can, however, water greens. 

Because of the water main break, Aquarion Water Company shut down supply to the towns of Ridgefield and New Canaan, Marconi said.  

New Canaan also has an alert on its Web site stating that the water main break caused reduced water pressure for all Aquarion customers in town.

Aquarion expects the problem to be fixed by 6 p.m. on Monday but has extended voluntary water restrictions past Wednesday through the end of the week.

No water usage is allowed for plant and lawn watering, pool filling and laundering clothes or using dishwashers until further notice.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell met with the Interagency Drought Work Group on Monday and requested that residents to avoid non-essential uses of water and to bear in mind an elevated risk of fires statewide.
 
“We continue to watch the water situation statewide – especially after a number of water companies reported spikes in demand last week during the heat wave – and every day we go without a good, soaking rain the situation will be aggravated,” Rell said. “The spotty weekend showers were not nearly enough to really refill the water table and the forecast for this week remains uncertain.
 
 

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