WESTFIELD—As the city and the region were soaked with rain throughout the day, the Westfield Water Commission voted to remove water use restrictions that were in place on the city.
The board voted unanimously to lift the restrictions immediately, after city officials explained that the water situation has improved within the city. This follows an announcement from the state last month that Westfield and the rest of the region were officially out of a drought. There were also reports of the Granville Reservoir regularly being above the spillway even after flashboards were put in place to increase its capacity.
“The boards on the reservoir are still overflowing,” David Billips, director of Westfield Department of Public Works, said. “I don’t see any need to keep the water restriction.”
The Granville Reservoir on May 17. Water is up to the shores, which is in stark contrast to last year
Billips added that through last year’s drought conditions the city utilized the reservoir until October, despite the dry spring and summer the region faced.
“The flashboards are still in so the reservoir has an extra foot over the spillway,” Heather Miller, water systems engineer, said. “Since the flashboards were put in in March it has been consistently over it.”
Still, Miller cautioned that in spite of the favorable water conditions usage should be monitored and residents should remain aware of it.
“We still need to be careful of water usage, we don’t want to squander our resources,” she said.
The commission felt that this was evidence enough to remove the restriction but wanted to be certain that the option could be revisited at any point within reason.
“I’m fine with it. Just as soon as you want a restriction on let us know,” Matthew Barnes, commission member, said.
The board voted unanimously to remove the restriction immediately.
