Southwick DPW Director Randy Brown. (Photo courtesy of Greg Fitzpatrick)
SOUTHWICK – The Town of Southwick announced on Friday afternoon that they’ve placed a mandatory outdoor water use restriction in effect immediately until further notice.
The restriction is focused on non-essential water use, which includes the following:
· Irrigation of lawns via sprinklers or automatic irrigation systems
· Washing of vehicles, except in a commercial car wash or as necessary for operator safety or to prevent damage and/or maintain performance of agricultural or construction vehicles or equipment
· Washing of exterior building surfaces, parking lots, driveways or sidewalks, except as necessary to apply surface treatments such as paint, preservatives, stucco, pavement or cement
However, there are outdoor water-use activities that are not subject to the restriction and they are listed below:
· Irrigation to establish a new lawn and new plantings during the months of May and September
· Irrigation of parks and recreational fields by means of automatic sprinklers outside the hours of 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (early morning or late evening)
· Irrigation of gardens, flowers and ornamental plants by means of a hand-held hose, soaker hose or drip irrigation system
· Irrigation of lawns by means of a hand-held hose only
· Irrigation with harvested and stored stormwater runoff
· For health and safety reasons
· By regulation
· For the production of food and fiber
· For the maintenance of livestock
· To meet the core functions of a business (i.e. irrigation by golf courses as necessary to maintain tees, greens, and limited fairway watering; or irrigation by plant nurseries as necessary to maintain stock or establish new plantings, wash equipment to prevent damage and/or maintain performance, pest management and plant cooling)
According to DPW Director Randy Brown, non-essential water use will be permitted to one day per week and only used before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. The one day of the week depends on the location of town that a resident lives in. The two locations are the North and South region. Anyone that lives on Granville Road, Depot Street, and South Longyard Road are in the North region. All other areas of Southwick will be in the South region. The schedule for the regions is as follows:
· Monday – North Region, odd number properties
· Tuesday – North Region, even number properties
· Wednesday – South Region, odd number properties
· Thursday – South Region, even number properties
All customers of the Southwick Water Department are expected to obey the restriction. Any residents who use a private well or lake don’t have to comply with the ban.
Southwick gets water from wells located within the town but uses the water flow volume of the Westfield River to determine if restrictions or bans need to be implemented.
The reason for the recent restriction is due to the last test of the mean daily stream flow in the Westfield River falling below 174 cubic feet per second for three consecutive days. The restriction is in effect until September 30, unless the stream flow levels go above 174 cubic feet per second for seven consecutive days.
If any resident decides to not comply with the non-essential outdoor water restriction, they will be fined $50 for their first offense, followed by a $100 fine for every subsequent offense.
The last time Southwick had an outdoor water-use restriction was between July and October 2016. The Massachusetts DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) will give municipalities the option on October 1 to lift their restriction or not.
