Southern York County Life

30-day mandatory water restriction

Voluntary no more. Effective immediately, Stewartstown residents must comply with a mandatory water restriction. Basically this means that outdoor water use is prohibited.

The ban on outdoor water usage was announced by Stewartstown Mayor Richard Hall on Monday, June 4 and is in effect for 30 days. Of course this may be extended if the situation doesn’t improve. The mandatory restriction follows close on the heels of a voluntary restriction that was put in place in mid-May.

Stewartstown residents are anxiously awaiting completion of a new water line along State Route 851 that will supplement the borough’s well water with York Water Company supplies. This is due for completion in September or October if everything goes as planned. That’s too late for this summer, so for now water conservation is the only alternative.

A question that naturally arises is “why now?” Haven’t we had decent rainfall lately? Indeed we’ve had an increase in moisture, unfortunately matched by an increase in consumption. The usual summer demand increase pushed usage up from the 220,000 to 240,000 gallons per day range to about 280,000 gallons per day. Some folks have continued to wash their cars every week, water their lawns, or let their kids play with the water hose. Either they were unaware of the voluntary restriction or just inclined to ignore it. Newer residents may not realize the water situation in Stewartstown.

Another logical question concerns how the borough knows the wells are in danger of not keeping up. Glad you asked. The water authority can monitor how much water is above the pump head. This level has been declining. The recent rains helped, but apparently not enough. By the way, there is currently no way to know how much water is below the pump head or in the ground around the well hole. Also, the water level falls during the day and rises during the night, following the usage patterns.

There is one place where you can wash your car--the sewage treatment plant. There are hoses available there that use recycled water from the plant that is not drinkable, yet is safe for non-potable water uses. If you have an appropriate container you can haul the water back to your home to water flowers and garden plants.

Posted by Dan Baldwin on 06/08/2001 at 03:23 PM in News

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