So far this year, the summer sky has been stingy with the rain, so by the time a low pressure front delivered a bank of storm clouds to us Tuesday afternoon, and the skies opened up in a downpour, parched lawns, wilting flower beds, and baked vegetable gardens were all but jumping into the air to receive this small passing blessing.

This area of the country has always had plenty of water thanks to the jet stream’s consistent and precipitous mediation between arctic cold and tropical heat across the nation’s northern tier. But the stretch of dry weather that made a rainy day a good day this week, reminds us of the absolute necessity of water for all living things and the finite nature of virtually every resource — even water. This realization underscores the importance of Newtown’s efforts to slow down, perhaps even to block, efforts by United Water Connecticut to solve a water supply problem it has in Brookfield with water pumped out of the Pootatuck aquifer in Newtown.

Last month, the state Department of Pubic Utility Control (DPUC) postponed a scheduled public session on plans by United Water to extend a water line from Newtown to the Greenridge residential section of Brookfield, where 230 single-family houses are served by a water supply tainted with naturally occurring uranium. The utility initially tried to launch the $4 million project last May, briefly commencing construction only to halt the line extension work when local officials raised objections to state regulators. What is said and done at the rescheduled July 29 meeting of the DPUC in Newtown will help determine where the water line goes from here.

The prime concern of local land use and conservation officials is whether the Pootatuck aquifer has sufficient water reserves to meet the demand in Brookfield. A spokesman for United Water promised last month that the water line extension “will not threaten one drop of water” available to Newtown residents. Ironically, that same spokesman was busy early this week urging United Water customers in Newtown and Brookfield to conserve water by limiting their usage because “particularly in this hot, dry weather, it stresses the systems.”

The truth is that no one knows precisely what the capacity of the Pootatuck aquifer is. An ongoing US Geological Survey study of this local fresh water source should yield some answers, but that study won’t be completed for another few months. But it is hard to see how diverting significant quantities of water out of the local watershed that recharges the aquifer can be good for the future of this resource. At best, the reassurances by United Water about Newtown’s water supply are guesswork motivated by the urgency of a critical problem in another town. Newtown’s officials are right to be skeptical and cautious.

We hope that when the Department of Public Utility Control meets in two weeks to assess the advisability of this project, the “control” it exerts will reflect empirical data and proven conservation practices rather than the expedience of imposing a quick fix for one neighborhood by creating long-term problems for an entire town.