{"id":249661,"date":"2025-10-25T00:04:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T00:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/249661\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T00:04:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T00:04:11","slug":"norwich-issues-water-supply-watch-amid-drought-why-npu-urges-residents-to-conserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/249661\/","title":{"rendered":"Norwich issues Water Supply Watch amid drought. Why NPU urges residents to conserve"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">With reservoir levels dropping and drought conditions persisting, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/asylum-street-paving-project-cause-085622364.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Norwich Public Utilities is asking residents;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Norwich Public Utilities is asking residents<\/a> and businesses to cut back on water use.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The utility issued a Water Supply Watch Oct. 23 after its two reservoirs fell to about 70% of capacity, according to a community announcement. That level indicates roughly 230 days of water supply remain. The Water Supply Watch is required under NPU\u2019s Water Supply Plan, which is filed with the State of Connecticut.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cIn an abundance of caution, we are asking our customers to help us <a href=\"https:\/\/data.norwichbulletin.com\/drought\/connecticut\/new-london-county\/09011\/#search\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:manage through the current conditions;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">manage through the current conditions<\/a> and cut back their water use whenever they can,\u201d Jeff Brining, assistant general manager of NPU, said. \u201cBeing more mindful in our daily routines can make a big difference if enough people respond to our request.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What happens if the water level gets lower<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">If reservoir levels continue to drop, NPU may escalate its response:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A Water Supply Warning is triggered at 60% capacity (about 200 days of supply)<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A Water Supply Emergency is triggered at 50% capacity (about 180 days of supply)<\/p>\n<p>How to conserve water<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">To help conserve water, NPU and the Connecticut Department of Public Health recommend several steps:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Avoid rinsing sidewalks, driveways or patios<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Run dishwashers and washing machines only with full loads<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Turn off faucets while brushing teeth, shaving or washing dishes<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Take shorter showers \u2014 aim for under five minutes<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Skip power washing and car washing<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">NPU is also pausing its annual hydrant flushing to save water over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">More information is available at <a href=\"https:\/\/norwichpublicutilities.com\/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=96\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:norwichpublicutilities.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">norwichpublicutilities.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This story was created by David DeMille,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/presto-suite.gannettdigital.com\/quick-view\/ddemille@gannett.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:ddemille@gannett.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">ddemille@gannett.com<\/a>, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cm.usatoday.com\/ethical-conduct\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:cm.usatoday.com\/ethical-conduct;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">cm.usatoday.com\/ethical-conduct<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.norwichbulletin.com\/story\/news\/local\/2025\/10\/24\/norwich-water-supply-watch-drought-reservoir-conservation-npu-connecticut\/86868747007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Norwich Public Utilities issues Water Supply Watch amid drought in CT;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Norwich Public Utilities issues Water Supply Watch amid drought in CT<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With reservoir levels dropping and drought conditions persisting, Norwich Public Utilities is asking residents and businesses to cut&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[59965,192,136181,136180,79,45397],"class_list":{"0":"post-249661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-drought-conditions","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-norwich-public-utilities","11":"tag-npu","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-water-supply"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}