WATER SYSTEM UPDATE 12/1/16

*Please note that this update contains new information and does not repeat information already provided in previous updates*

The Drought Management Crisis Team met on Tuesday, November 29^th

Water Supply

• Supply:  The Water Department continues to supply all of the Town’s water exclusively from the wells.  No water has been taken from the reservoir since August.

  Reservoir level:  As a result of the rain over the past couple of days, the Reservoir level has increased to 53% full.  This is very encouraging but still well below last year when we had a full reservoir going into December.

• Forecast:  NECN meteorologist Tim Kelley provided this weather outlook:  “Final rainfall for November is in.  The first of two batches of rain brought us 0.7 inches on the 29^th and an additional 0.5" on the 30^th, with rain continuing through midnight amounting to 0.8" by early morning December 1^st.  So our November monthly total is close to 2.5 inches.  That leaves us about 3/4 of an inch shy of normal November rainfall, as a few storms just missed us out to sea the last couple weeks.  But we are now in a stormy pattern, and rain (eventually snow) is expected to continue once or twice a week into Christmas.  It looks mostly dry though the weekend with cooling air. The next system will come close on Monday probably missing out to sea, but we will keep an eye on it. The real threat is for Wednesday and Thursday, December 7-8.  There will likely be a major storm coming out of the Deep South, very similar to the one that caused fatal tornadoes the night of November 29th.  Much colder air will come in on the backside next weekend, with the potential for rain and/or snow again about five days later.  The ground is wet, the reservoir is rising, …... we continue to see a slow and steady improvement in our drought situation.

Water Usage

• Scituate residents and businesses continue to reduce water usage! In October Total Scituate water usage was averaged 63 gallons per person per day.November’s average dropped 3.5% to 61 gallons.Great progress!(Note: as you would expect, there was a slight increase in water use during the holiday week.)
• Violations:  There were no water ban violations in November.
• Flushing Water Lines:  The Water Department will continue to do targeted flushing of water lines to get ready for winter.  You may see water running down the street, but Department personnel will be carefully monitoring the flows to ensure only the minimum amount is used in this required work.
• Water Main Work:  Water main replacement work that was suspended on Barker Road, 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd Avenues will resume.  You may see some limited running of water in the street as the contractor and the Water Department chlorinate and flush these new pipes.

Water Ban Change

• As a direct result of conservation efforts by Scituate residents and businesses the Water Department has been able to supply needs from the wells.This conservation, plus a shift in weather pattern, has enabled the Reservoir to recover to over 50% full.Provided the Department can continue to supply the Town’s water needs exclusively from the wells, the ban on outdoor water use is being lifted.We will continue to closely monitor water use, Reservoir level and rainfall to ensure that this is a prudent change.

Future Resiliency

• Expansion of the Reservoir:  We still are waiting to hear if we will receive a grant from the Commonwealth to continue the work to raise the Reservoir height.

• Capital Budgets:  Capital requests for money to refurbish several wells, divert Well 17 directly to the Reservoir, and establish a new well on the Town owned “Dolan Property” have been submitted and being reviewed by Town committees.

Outreach and Education

• Rain Barrels:  Rain barrels will be available for purchase at the Transfer Station next spring.

• Faucet Aerators:  Consider adding faucet aerators on all of your sinks to reduce water consumption and save some money.

• Schools - Water Conservation Education:  Samantha Woods of the North and South Rivers Watershed Associations sent along this update:  “I wanted to share with you some other activities that Scituate Schools have been doing as a result of our outreach to the schools to promote water conservation ----” 

Kathy Elich:  “I have to say the posters were a good idea - kids actually read them and in some cases had discussions with a class mate on the way to class. The lesson was on water quality and water conservation. They researched conservation techniques/ideas and made a list of the 10 best. They compared those to the ones on the town website and came up with their 10 best ideas and made the posters based on those.”

                  See Posters Below