WHATELY — The town has asked customers of the Whately Water Department to cut down on the amount of water they use.
A notice posted on the town’s website alerts customers of a voluntary restriction on automatic sprinklers between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. until Sept. 30. However, Wayne Hutkoski, water superintendent, said the end date could change depending on the amount of rainfall the region sees in the coming months.
The restriction, which is not mandatory, took effect following a Board of Water Commissioners meeting July 14.
According to the water superintendent, the reason for the ban is that the town’s water system could not keep up with demand.
“The pumps were at max capacity,” Hutkoski said. “They were pumping as much as they could, and we couldn’t bring the tank level to where it was supposed to be.”
The notice goes on to say the restriction applies to odd-numbered houses on even-numbered calendar days, and to even-numbered houses on odd-numbered calendar days.
Since the decision by the board, Hutkoski said the restriction has worked and the tank’s water has leveled off.
“Most of it’s probably lawn sprinklers,” he said, adding that many farmers have their own wells, or draw from rivers and ponds to water crops.
“If customers water their lawns for six or seven hours a day, maybe cut back to four hours a day,” he continued. “It’s worked, the pump can actually keep up now. They’re still running at 24 hours a day, but they’re at least maintaining the tank level at full.”
The Water Department uses a 500,000 gallon tank and a gravity feed system to supply water to customers in town.
In June, the Water Department pumped about 30,000 gallons more per day than in June 2015. So far in July, the daily average is over 165,000 gallons per day, almost 60,000 gallons more than the same month last year.
Hutkoski said water usage peaks during the day and drains the tank. Overnight, pumps send water up into the tank to refill it with groundwater drawn from wells.
The water system is usually taxed during summer months, Hutkoski said, adding that water usage is particularly high this year because there has not been a lot of rainfall. Water levels in the wells have dropped about 35 feet over the course of the summer.
“We aren’t getting rain to recharge them,” he said about the wells. “I can’t see them lifting (the restriction) before the end of summer.”