Norwich Public Utilities Asks Homes, Businesses to Cut Water Use By 10%

Norwich Public Utilities has issued a water supply warning and homes and businesses are asked to reduce water use by 10% amid ongoing drought conditions.

“With the ongoing drought in the region and no significant rain in the immediate weather forecast, we are approaching a serious water supply situation. Therefore, we must strongly encourage our customers to be more aware of how they are using water,” Chris LaRose, general manager of Norwich Public Utilities said in a statement. “It would be very helpful to have all our customers reduce their water usage by 10% in the coming weeks.”

The United States Drought Monitor has listed parts of New London and Windham counties as being under extreme drought conditions while the rest of the two counties are under severe drought conditions.

As of Monday morning, NPU’s two reservoirs are at 72.43% of their capacity and they will likely be below 70% by the end of this week, according to NPU. The company said it has around 228 days of water supply in its reservoirs.

At 100% capacity, NPU said, its two reservoirs have nearly 1.8 billion gallons of water, which is enough for 321 days of supply.

During a Water Supply Warning, NPU is:

• Contacting major water users to determine the potential for emergency water conservation and request that they reduce consumption.
• Evaluating emergency supply options such as bringing the Norwichtown Well online which can provide an extra 1 million gallons of water per day.

What NPU Customers Can do amid Drought

Norwich Public Utilities is encouraging its residential customers to reduce their day-to-day water use by taking a few steps, including:

• Taking shorter showers
• Only running dishwashers and washing machines with full loads
• Limiting non-essential water use, such as watering lawns and gardens or washing cars
• Hold off on refilling any swimming pools

Litchfield County and Hartford County are in severe drought.

The northern parts of Fairfield, New Haven and Middlesex counties are under severe drought, which the southern parts of the three counties are under moderate drought.

You can compare drought conditions over time here.

Learn more here.