July 27, 2022 – With very dry conditions continuing across Connecticut and the region this summer, Norwich Public Utilities (NPU) continues to monitor the conditions at both of its reservoirs very closely and will advise the public should there be a need for the public to curtail their water use.
“While we have not experienced a lot of rain this spring and summer, our reservoirs are still in good shape,” said Chris LaRose, General Manager of NPU. “But if these drought conditions continue, there are operational steps we can take, and we may ask our customers to cut back on their water use as we manage this issue. But to be clear, we are not at that point right now.”
As of Monday, July 25, NPU’s Deep River Reservoir in Lebanon was at 84.93% capacity, with more than 1.4 billion gallons of water available for use. The Stony Brook Reservoir in Montville was at 92.62% capacity, with more than 497 million gallons of available water for use
Combined, NPU’s two reservoirs are at 86.94% capacity, with just under 297 days of water supply on hand. NPU reports its water levels to the State of Connecticut’s Department of Public Health (DPH) each week.
NPU’s Water Supply Plan, approved by the Department of Public Health, established the following thresholds for assessing water supplies and planning should drought conditions persist:
- A Water Supply Advisory is triggered when capacity is below 80%
- A Water Supply Watch is triggered at 70% capacity
- A Water Supply Warning is triggered at 60% capacity
- A Water Supply Emergency is triggered at 50% capacity.
As a precaution, NPU has suspended its hydrant flushing program for the summer and will reevaluate restarting this work in the fall should conditions improve.
NPU will provide regular updates on this issue in the weeks ahead and reach out to the public via social media and the NPU website if any steps are encouraged or required by its customers.