Connecticut Water is asking its customer in Clinton, Guilford, Madison, Old Saybrook and Westbrook to reduce their water use by 10 percent because of drought.
The water supplier issued a drought advisory for its water system that serves customers along the Connecticut shoreline because of dry weather and increased customer water usage.
Connecticut Water, citing the U.S. Drought Monitor, said nearly 85 percent of Connecticut is in the abnormally dry to extreme drought category.
“We are seeing the combined impacts of low precipitation and increased water usage. Between June and August, water usage was about 20% higher than it was in the summer of 2019. Some of the increased usage may be driven by more pool use and increased lawn watering because of dry weather as well as more people in the home and more staycations because of COVID-19,” Craig J. Patla, vice president of service delivery at Connecticut Water, said in a statement.
“We currently have an adequate supply of water for our customers’ needs,” Patla said, “but we want to ensure we will continue to have enough water. That’s why we are asking customers in the shoreline communities to voluntarily reduce their water usage by 10%, which will help prolong available water supplies to ensure we have water for public health, hygiene and fire protection.”
Connecticut Water says measures customers can take to reduce water usage include:
- Stop watering lawns.
- Shut off automatic irrigation systems.
- Sweep patios, driveways and sidewalks rather than using a hose on paved surfaces.
- Turn off the water when brushing teeth or shaving.
- Take showers instead of baths.
- Fix leaks: A faucet that drips can waste up to 3,280 gallons of water per year.
- Collect the water run while waiting for a shower to get warm and use it for plants or toilet flushing.
- Check for silent toilet leaks, which can waste large quantities of water.
