Date: Fri 28-Jul-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

heat-draught-water-tips

Full Text:

Heat Continues, Water Conservation Urge

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Last Sunday's downpour and a few sprinkles during the week did little to

alleviate extremely dry conditions in Newtown. Newtown Health District

officials urged continued water conservation measures.

Only a little more than one inch of fell this week, bringing the total for the

month to less than three inches. So far this year, just over 19 inches of rain

have fallen in Newtown, compared to the annual average of 27 inches for this

date.

"Last Sunday's storm seemed like a lot of rain but it only amounted to .87

inch," said Sean Downey, a forecaster at Western State Connecticut

University's weather center in Danbury. "We're expecting temperatures to stay

in the 90s until a front comes through next week that may bring some relief

from the heat - but no rain unless there's another storm like last weekend."

Newtown Health District Director Mark Cooper urged residents to conserve water

by not watering their lawns or gardens and not washing cars.

"Let your lawn go dry and become dormant," Mr Cooper said. "The grass isn't

dead - it will come back. Letting the lawn go dormant is much better than

giving it a little water. Giving only a little water at a time so that it

starts to get green puts a lot of stress on the lawn."

Except for residents of the borough, most Newtown homeowners have wells

instead of city water. Some are beginning to experience water shortages.

"If you have a well and your water starts to become cloudy or brown, or you

start to lose pressure, immediately stop using water," Mr Cooper said. "Don't

use any water except for flushing toilets. If you begin immediate conservation

measures, your well may come back by itself within 24 hours. In fact, it

usually does."

Residents who ignore these signs and continue to use water run the risk of

burning out their well pumps, he said. A new pump can cost as much as $2,000.

"What's happening is that you are taking more water out of the well than is

naturally going in," Mr Cooper said. "So stop whatever you were doing that was

causing you to use so much water. Don't water your lawn or your garden. Don't

wash cars. Take your laundry to a commercial laundry. Go to a friend or

relative's house to bathe."

Even residents who have not experienced problems yet are advised to conserve

water and stagger its use. Newtown sanitarian Martha Wright recommended that

laundry be spread out so that only one load is done per day, for example, and

that other water usage, such as dishes and bathing, be spread out over the

day.

"A well has to have time to recover," she said.

The Newtown Water Company draws its water from the aquifier which is not in

danger of going dry. Homeowner wells, on the other hand, may be shallow (25

feet deep or less) or deep (as much as 500 feet or more).

"A deep well has a much larger storage capacity - about 150 gallons for each

100 feet of depth," Mrs Wright said. "Most shallow wells have a greater chance

of going dry and are also more subject to contamination, particularly in dry

weather. Pesticides, lawn chemicals and other contaminants are more likely to

show up in the well water because it comes from groundwater. Most deep wells,

on the other hand, depend on fractures in bedrock."

It's impossible to judge how much water your well produces by comparing it

with your neighbor's because these bedrock fractures may not be

interconnected, Mr Cooper said.

"For example, I built a house in Southbury 100 feet from my brother's house

and 100 feet from my aunt's," he said. "My brother's well draws 25 gallons a

minute, my aunt's draws 15. Mine only drew one-eighth gallon a minute when it

was first drilled. I have taken measures to improve it somewhat since then."

Homeowners who experience problems with their wells, and find conservation

measures unsuccessful, should call a well pump company (look under "pumps" in

the yellow pages of the telephone book) for service, Mr Cooper said.

"It's also possible that a pump could have been damaged by lightening," he

said. "In most cases the problem can be alleviated without drilling a new

well."

Residents also can call the Health District at 270-4291 if they have questions

about water quality or usage.

Plants and Gardens

Plants and small gardens sometimes can be watered by reusing "grey" water from

the house, such as water from doing dishes, bathing or laundry.

"Obviously, this isn't always very convenient because you'd have to haul the

water outside," Mrs Wright said. "You also must be sure that the water doesn't

contain bleach or detergents which might hurt the plants."

Marie Dube, a UConn Cooperative Extension System educator for horticulture,

said grey water can be used on perrenials, trees and shrubs but it is not

advisable to use it on plants such as vegetables, which will be eaten. "There

is a risk of transmitting bacteria and other pollutants," she said.

Mulching plants helps prevent evaporation and keep the soil from drying out.

"The depth of the mulch depends on what you are using," she said. "It would

take three to four inches of pine needles to get the same result at one to two

inches of chopped leaves."

Grass clippings will work but should not be spread more than an inch or two

deep, "otherwise they pack down tightly and really smell when they begin to

decay without oxygen," she said. "And obviously you should not use grass

clippings as mulch if you used a weed killer on the grass."

Adding organic matter to sandy soil at the beginning of the growing season

helps to keep water from running through the soil quickly. Black plastic mulch

also is good for crops like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants which like warm

soil, "although it's too late to use it now for water conservation if the soil

is already dry."

Homeowners also should use hardy native plants when landscaping. For

convenience, plants that need a lot of water should be grouped together.

"Don't use overhead watering methods, use a drip method or a soaker which gets

water directly to the base of the plants," she said. "Overhead watering not

only is subject to evaporation, it also can promote plant diseases by wetting

the leaves. It is far butter to water the roots once a week, but water

deeply."

Ms Dube also suggested that homeowners could set up rain barrels under

downspouts to catch water from brief but heavy showers.