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NJ asks residents to curb water use, drought conditions in 6 counties
By
Louis C. Hochman
Published Jul 29, 2022
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By
Louis C. Hochman
Published Jul 29, 2022
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New Jersey officials are asking residents to conserve water, with several counties experiencing drought conditions.
The state Department of Environmental Protection says drinking water supplies remain healthy, but that could change as hot and dry weather continues.
“Now is the time for New Jersey to be especially mindful of water usage and proactively moderate our consumption,” Shawn M. LaTourette, the commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, said in an announcement earlier this week.
The National Drought Mitigation Center lists most of Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Union as experiencing "moderate drought" conditions. Parts of Essex and Hudson counties are listed as well. The center's scale also allows for more serious ratings of "severe drought," "extreme drought" and "exceptional drought," but no parts of New Jersey have yet been classified with those designations.
Large parts of the remainder of the state are considered "abnormally dry," the lowest level of intensity on the center's scale other than "none."
Earlier this month, New Jersey issued mandatory outdoor usage restrictions in Monmouth and Ocean Counties. It's asking customers to stick to an odd-even day schedule — customers with odd-numbered addresses can use water outside on odd dates (like July 29) and customers with even-numbered houses can use water on even dates (like July 30). The company allows exceptions in cases where watering new sod or seed daily is required, for the use of private wells, for commercial uses of outdoor waters and for watering of athletic fields.
Several other water companies are asking their customers to voluntarily restrict water use.
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drought
Louis C. Hochman
After about two decades in (mostly) New Jersey-focused commercial print, digital and digital-but-radio-adjacent news, Lou stumbled into member-supported news in early 2021, as the editor and CEO of Montclair Local. There, he (hopes he) expanded enterprise, brought more sophistication to digital storytelling and moved the nonprofit newsroom closer to long-term financial sustainability. He helped lead the Local to its fourth consecutive General Excellence award from the New Jersey Press Association — the NJPA's highest honor with judges noting the paper's work to strip away layers of government opacity, to hold power to account, to make news accessible for more members of the community, to share the stories and concerns of more facets of the community and to tell compelling stories across multiple media. He's excited to continue the same ethic — news as a public service — at NYPR as the New Jersey and suburbs editor, drawing on the extraordinary talents of reporters including Karen Yi and Nancy Solomon. Lou lives in Philly (that commute!) with his partner and their two cats, about whom and about which he speaks incessantly.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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