NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WJAR) \u2014 The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said that the southeast region of the state was now in “Level-2 Significant Drought” status.<\/p>\n
The office said that the state had been in a drought since 2024, and that despite heavy snowfall in January there was still a precipitation deficit.<\/p>\n
The drought has caused “low streamflow, decreasing water levels in lakes and ponds, and declining groundwater in nearly all regions.”<\/p>\n
The office also said that while local water supplies were stable, it was still “prudent for all to be very conservative and save water whenever possible.”<\/p>\n
Guidance for those living in an area under a Level Two status are: <\/p>\n
Residents and Businesses:<\/p>\n
Minimize overall water use;Follow local water use restrictions;Fix indoor leaks, such as from toilets, faucets, and showers, which result in more than 60 percent of indoor use; and,For larger buildings and businesses, conduct water audits to identify areas of leaks and potential water conservation opportunities.<\/p>\n
Immediate Steps for Communities\/Municipalities:<\/p>\n
Limit or prohibit washing of hard surfaces (sidewalks, patios, driveways, siding); personal vehicle or boat washing; and,Establish water-use reduction targets for all water users, identify top water users and conduct targeted outreach to help curb their use.<\/p>\n
Short- and Medium-Term Steps for Communities\/Municipalities:<\/p>\n
Establish a year-round water conservation program that includes public education and communication, taking advantage of the states library of outreach materials;Provide timely information to local residents and businesses;Implement or establish drought surcharge or seasonal water rates;Check emergency inter-connections for water supply; and,Develop or refine your local drought management plan using guidance outlined in the state Drought Management Plan.Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n
BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n
More information on water conversation can be found on the EEA’s drought<\/a> and water conversation<\/a> pages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WJAR) \u2014 The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said that the southeast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":["post-279701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}