The state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs has declared a worsened drought status for the northeast region of the state, which includes Natick. The drought status has been raised from Level 1 (mild drought) to Level 2 (significant drought).
The state’s recommendation for communities in the northeast region is:
- Minimize overall water use
- Follow local water use restrictions;
- For any upcoming outdoor water use, limit watering to hand-held hoses or watering cans, to be used only after 5 p.m. or before 9 a.m
- Fix indoor leaks, such as from toilets, faucets, and showers, which result in more than 60 percent of indoor use; and,
- For larger buildings and businesses, conduct water audits to identify areas of leaks and potential water conservation opportunities.
Update: Here’s the message from Natick:
Natick is required to implement a ban on all nonessential outdoor water uses, except that watering of ornamentals and flower gardens with drip irrigation, hand-held hoses or watering cans may be permitted.
The next update on the region’s drought status from the state should come in early June.
Next door in Wellesley, which is in the state’s southeast region, conditions worsened from normal to mild drought.
Expand your reach via paid advertising on Natick Report—this goes for town departments and bodies as well.
Drought??!! All it does is rain here!!!
Irrigation systems are the worst things that were ever developed. People put them on a timer and even if it’s raining outside, the irrigation systems are functioning.. also
People with irrigation systems have a separate faucet that’s not connected to their other water usage, which I think is incorrect and should be abolished.
At what point does supply factor into the demand posed by ever more apartment construction, not to mention a second car wash?
MarianneFaling: The separate connection is so they can pay for the water, but not the sewer usage – because they are not using the sewer system; in fact they are even keeping the local water table a teensy bit higher by wasting it on their lawn (stupid, I know). …I have a neighbor with the 2 systems, they just use the “outdoor water” hookup for their garden though (watering manually). So it’s not 100% a bad idea.