Maine water users asked to reduce consumption

PORTLAND – With Maine’s drought now in its 16th month, some public water systems are appealing to customers to conserve by not watering lawns or flowers.

Drought alerts were sent to thousands of water users in the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District. The Boothbay Regional Water District is also asking customers to restrict water consumption. Other districts are considering similar measures.

With no steady rain in sight, mandatory conservation efforts “for some areas will be necessary,” said Andy Tolman, manager of source protection for the Maine Drinking Water Program.

Problematic water districts are all located in Southern Maine, where this summer’s drought has been more severe, Tolman said.

“The state is kind of split right now,” he said. “The northern third of the state and inland areas are significantly wetter than the south coastal areas.”

The Kennebunk district, which draws water from Branch Brook, recently issued a “drought alert” that urged customers to cut back their water usage.

“We hand-delivered 2,000 of them to large users and anyone with a green lawn,” said Norm Labbe, district superintendent. The alert called on customers’ help to avoid a systemwide water emergency, including avoiding unnecessary water use, most notably watering lawns.

Madeleine Marx, who has lived at Kennebunk Beach for 55 years, has been looking at a drab lawn most of the summer.

“I have a very brown lawn,” Marx said. “I haven’t used any water on it. We’re doing what we thought was right.”

Greg Holder, superintendent of the Webhannet Golf Club in Kennebunk, has stopped watering the fairways altogether, and has cut back watering the greens and tees by more than a third.

“The golfers want to see green grass, and that goes with the territory,” Holder said, “but we also consider ourselves to be environmental stewards.”

The Boothbay district, which gets its water from Adams Pond, placed newspaper ads last week urging conservation. The district has fluctuated between voluntary and mandatory water restrictions since last year.

“We’ve asked that people refrain from watering flowers and lawns,” said office manager Ruth Watts.

A drought occurs when the precipitation levels over a 12-month period are 15 percent or more below normal. Maine has been in a drought since April 2001.

Over the past year, Sanford’s precipitation levels have been 29 percent below normal. Augusta is 22 percent below normal, while Portland, Bridgton and Belfast are down 19 percent.

State officials estimate that 510,000 of Maine’s residents rely on wells for their water, and 760,000 are on public water systems. Thousands of people have had deeper wells dug over the past year to overcome the drought.

The long-range forecast for Maine has no steady rain in sight, according to Tom Hawley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.