A voluntary odd/even water restriction will be in effect starting today through September 22. Under the ban, outside water use is restricted based on your house number, so odd-numbered houses use water on odd-numbered days, and even-numbered houses use water on even-numbered days.
The ban is voluntary because overall water levels are fine, but Selectman Bill Boland said last week that residents are encouraged to limit their water use. “You don’t have to do it,” Boland said of the ban, “But it’s to our advantage if you try to conserve water.”
In addition to keeping overall water usage down, DPW head Karen Galligan explained the voluntary ban also helps the water system. “Instead of 3,000 homes using water outside from 5:00 to 7:00, only 1,500 are using outside water,” she said. “It should keep the pressure fluctuation during high demand times a little less drastic.”
Southborough has adopted the voluntary ban for several years now in an attempt to meet the state water use guideline of 65 gallons per day per resident. The town has seen mixed results.
According to its annual water quality report, Southborough residents beat the 65 gallon per day goal in 2009, using just 62 gallons per day per resident.
But the summer of 2010 wasn’t as kind water-wise. “Summer 2010 was very dry and volunteer conservation efforts dwindled as summer progressed,” the DPW stated in its report. “The Town pumped 373 million gallons (MG) of water into our distribution system in 2010, an 11.6% increase over 2009. Southborough did not meet the WMA standard of 65 gal/day in 2010.”
(Photo posted to Flickr by Kumaravel)
